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THE    CITIES    OF    LOMBARDY 


•    •    • 

*  •  • 


OUTSIDE   MANTUA 


THE 
CITIES  OF   LOMBARDY 


BY 

EDWARD    HUTTON 


WITH  TWELVE   ILLUSTRATIONS  IN  COLOUR  BY 

MAXWELL  ARMFIELD 

AND  TWELVE  OTHER   ILLUSTRATIONS 


NEW    YORK 

THE    MACMILLAN    COMPANY 

1912 


i 


•^,^iviv" ;.; 


CONTENTS 


I. 

II. 
III. 

IV. 
V. 


VI. 

VII. 

VIII. 

IX. 

X. 

XI. 

XII. 


Cisalpine  Gaul   .... 

The  Lakes  :  Maggiore,  Lugano,  Como 

To  Milan:  Varese,  Castiglione  D'Olona 
Saronno 

The  Story  of  Milan     . 

Milan  :  S.  Ambrogio 

S.  Lorenzo  and  S.  Eustorgio 

The  Duomo     . 

The  Sforza 

Milan  in  the  Sixteenth  Century 

The  Galleries 

Chiaravalle  and  Feminism  in  the  Thir 
teenth  Century 

The»  Certosa  of  Pavia  . 

Pavia  .... 

Monza        .... 

Bergamo     .... 

Brescia      .... 


Lago  D'Iseo,  Lago  di  Garda  and 
Battlefields   . 


XIII.  Mantua 


Three 


PAGE 
I 

29 


52 
58 
80 

91 
98 

"3 

116 

128 
136 
148 
162 
169 
183 

196 
206 


255435 


VI 


THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 


CHAP. 
XIV. 

Cremona    . 

.    • 

PAGE 
.        219 

XV. 

Crema  and 

LODI  . 

.        234 

XVI. 

PlACENZA     . 

. 

.        243 

XVII. 

The  Chilian  Way 

.        262 

XVIII. 

Parma 

.        268 

XIX. 

Reggio 

.        283 

XX. 

Modena      . 

.        288 

XXI. 

Canossa     . 

.        297 

Index 

.        305 

LIST    OF    ILLUSTRATIONS 


IN   COLOUR 


Outside  Mantua  . 


San  Mamette,  Lago  Lugano    . 

AZZANO— LAGO  DI   COMO    . 

CoLONNE  DI  S.  Lorenzo,  Milan 
CittX  Alta,  Bergamo 
S.  Maria  Maggiore,  Bergamo  . 
Il  Duomo  Vecchio,  Brescia 
The  Gates  of  the  North 
Mantua       .... 
Cremona     .  .  .  . 

Montefiorino,  Modena  . 
The  Top  of  the  World 


Frontispiece 

FACING  PAGE 

•  30 

.  46 

.  80 

.  170 

.  176 

.  190 

.  202 

.  208 

.  226 

.  288 

.  298 


viii  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

IN   MONOTONE 
Map  of  Lombardy  .  .  .     Front  End  Paper 

FACING  PAGE 

Salome,  by  Masolino      .  .  .  .  -54 

From  the  fresco  in    the  Baptistery,   Castiglione  d'Olona 
(Photo,  Alinari) 

The  Church  of  S.  Ambrogio,  Milan  .  .  .88 

(Photo,  Brogi) 

The  Duomo,  Milan         .  .  .  .  .98 

The  Church  of  S.  Maria  delle  Grazie,  Milan    .    no 
Head  of  Christ    .  .  .  .  .  .116 

From  the  painting  attributed  to   LEONARDO  DA  ViNCi, 
Brera,  Milan.     (Photo,  Brogi) 

Certosa  di  Pavia.  .  .  .  .  .136 

(Photo,  Alinari) 


On  the  Road 

The  Bridge,  Pavia 

(Photos,  R.  W.  Garden) 


148 


Victory       .  .  .  .  .  .  .186 

From  the  bronze  in  the  Museum,  Brescia 

Palazzo  del  Comune,  Piacenza  .  .  .248 

(Photo,  Alinari) 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS  ix 

FACING   PAGB 

FAf  ADE  OF  THE  DUOMO,   BORGO   S.   DONNINO  .  \ 

)     262 
FAgADE  OF  THE  DUOMO,   MODENA  .  .  J 

(Photos,  R.  W.  Garden)  / 


Madonna  della  Scodella        ....    278 

From  the  painting   by  CORREGGio,  Gallery  of   Parma. 
(Photo,  Anderson) 

Francesco  d'Este,  Duke  of  Modena.  .  .    296 

From  the  painting  by  Velasquez,  in  the  Gallery,  Modena. 
(Photo,  Anderson) 


THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

CHAPTER  I 
^  CISALPINE  GAUL 

WHEN  I  think  of  Lombardy,  there  comes  back 
into  my  mind  a  country  wide  and  gracious, 
watered  by  many  a  great  river,  and  lying,  a  Httle 
vaguely,  between  always  far-away  mountains  ;  a  world 
that  is  all  a  garden,  where  one  passes  between  fair 
hedgerows,  from  orchard  to  orchard,  among  the  vines, 
where  the  fields  are  green  with  promise  or  shining  with 
harvest,  and  there  are  meadows  on  the  lower  slopes  of 
the  mountains.  And  the  whole  of  this  wide  garden 
seems  to  me,  as  is  no  other  country  in  the  world,  to  be 
subject  to  the  sun,  the  stars  and  the  great  and  beautiful 
clouds  of  an  infinite  sky  ;  every  landscape  is  filled  with 
them,  and  beneath  them  the  cities  seem  but  small 
things,  not  cities  truly,  but  rather  sanctuaries,  hidden 
in  that  garden  for  our  delight,  reverence  and  meditation, 
at  the  end  of  the  endless  ways,  where  only  the  restless 
poplars  tell  the  ceaseless  hours. 

It  is  my  purpose  in  this  book  to  consider  the  nature 
and  the  history  of  this  country,  to  recapture  and  to 
express  as  well  as  I  may  my  delight  in  it,  so  that  some- 
thing of  its  beauty  and  its  genius  may  perhaps  dis- 
engage itself  from  my  pages,  and  the  reader  feel  what  I 
have  felt  about  it  though  he  never  stir  ten  miles  from 
I 


2  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

his  own  home.  But  first  it  might  seem  necessary 
to  describe  in  a  way  very  definite  and  even  rigid  the 
situation  of  this  country,  and  especially  to  define  its 
relation,  both  geographic  and  historical,  to  the  peninsula 
of  Italy,  of  which  for  ages  it  has  politically  formed  a  part. 

The  traveller  who,  on  a  day  of  early  spring,  descends 
towards  the  south  from  the  cruel  ice  and  snow  of  the 
St.  Gothard,  or  the  barren  loneliness  of  the  Simplon, 
will  presently  see  stretched  out  before  him,  as  far  as 
the  eye  can  reach,  a  vast  green  and  golden  plain — "  the 
waveless  plain  of  Lombardy  " — scattered  with  many 
fair  cities  and  broken  in  the  south  by  a  range  of  faint, 
far-away  mountains.  In  his  first  enthusiasm  he  takes 
this  to  be  Italy  :  in  fact,  it  is  Cisalpine  Gaul. 

This  vast  plain,  everlastingly  defended  on  the  north 
against  the  Germanics  and  less  brutally  on  the  west 
against  Gaul  by  the  Alps,  is  closed  on  the  east  by 
the  sea.  From  Italy  it  is  divided  by  those  far-away 
mountains — the  Apennines. 

I  say  that  this  country  between  the  Alps,  the  Apen- 
nines and  the  sea,  does  not  really  form  a  part  of  Italy, 
though  to-day  it  is  united  to  her,  and  may  be  said,  ever 
since  the  Roman  Conquest,  to  have  depended  upon 
Italy,  and  to  have  drawn  all  that  was  really  vital  in 
its  life  from  her.     Let  me  explain  myself. 

Peninsulas,  one  has  often  remarked  it  on  the  map, 
commonly  gain  in  breadth  as  they  approach  the  conti- 
nent, and  in  Italy  this  tendency  is  so  pronounced  that, 
roughly,  south  of  the  Apennines  we  have  an  altogether 
peninsular,  north  of  them  an  altogether  continental 
country ;  moreover,  here  the  division  is  marked  by  a  lofty 
and  difficult  chain  of  mountains.  It  is  Nature  herself 
which  has  shut  off  all  that  vast  continental  plain  to 
the  north  of  the  Apennines  from  the  true  Italy  to  the 
south  of  them,  and  men  have  always  felt  this  difference. 
For  when  one  comes  to  examine  that  plain  which 


CISALPINE  GAUL  3 

expands  like  a  tree  trunk  near  the  ground  as  it  ap- 
proaches the  Alps  and  sends  its  roots  far  back  into  the 
mass  of  Europe,  we  shall  be  more  than  ever  impressed 
by  its  non- Italian  character.  We  shall  find  that  it  is 
dominated  far  more  by  the  Alps  than  by  the  Apennines, 
and  that  it  contains  a  lowland  and  a  river  of  true 
continental  proportions  which  Italy  cannot  match, 
and  for  which,  indeed,  there  is  no  room  in  that  narrow 
and  mountainous  peninsula.  Nor  does  the  ethno- 
graphy of  this  country  in  any  way  contradict  its 
geography.  The  peoples  of  the  valley  of  the  Po  are 
very  different  from  the  Italians  in  their  origin,  in  their 
history  and  in  their  language  ;  their  heroic  and  violent 
opposition,  first  to  the  Romans  and  then  to  the  Teutons, 
is  characteristic,  and  is  due  not  to  their  Latin,  but  to 
their  Gaulish  blood.  For  though  from  time  to  time  the 
Italians  have  come  over  the  Apennines,  into  this  plain, 
even  as  the  Germans  have  come  over  the  Alps,  the  marrow 
of  this  people  is  Gaulish  still ;  they  are  a  military  people, 
a  race  of  soldiers.  But  if  we  thus  assert  that  geographic- 
ally, ethnographically  and  historically  Cisalpine  Gaul  is 
not  Italy,  that  even  to-day  it  is  Gaulish  rather  than 
Italian,  how  are  we  to  consider  its  relation  to  Italy  of 
which  politically  it  has  for  so  long  formed  a  part  ? 

Italy  is,  and  has  always  been,  a  place  apart  and 
separate  from  the  mass  of  Europe  ;  and  because  of 
this  she  has  been  able  to  do  her  work  both  secular  and 
religious.  What  has  secured  her  ?  Cisalpine  Gaul. 
The  valley  of  the  Po,  all  this  vast  plain  appears  in 
history  as  the  cockpit  of  Europe,  the  battlefield  of 
the  Celt,  the  Phoenician,  the  Latin  and  the  Teuton, 
strewn  with  victories,  littered  with  defeats,  the  theatre 
of  those  great  wars  which  have  builtj  and  secured 
Europe  and  the  modern  world.  Here,  in  this  Gaulish 
country,  Hannibal  waited  before  he  made  that  great 
descent  upon  Italy,  in  which  the  Oriental  so  nearly 
overthrew   Europe  ;     here    Caesar   conceived   and    by 


4  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

a  single  act  founded  the  Empire,  which  here  the 
Barbarians  overthrew;  here  Charlemagne  re-estab- 
lished it,  and  here  even  in  our  own  day  Italy  founded 
her  unity  and  once  more — ^may  it  be  for  ever — the 
Barbarian  was  driven  out. 

Yes,  if,  as  we  must,  we  consider  Italy  as  the  shrine,  the 
sanctuary  and  the  citadel  of  Europe,  here  are  her  gates  : 
they  are  three  in  number,  the  Alps,  the  Apennines  and 
the  Plain  between  them,  and  the  greatest  of  these  is  the 
Plain.  The  mountains  look  upon  it  from  the  north 
and  from  the  south,  the  outer  and  the  inner  gates  of 
Italy :  this  is  the  drawbridge  between  them ;  it  bears 
its  scars,  as  it  bears  its  destiny,  upon  its  forehead. 

The  country  which  lies  thus  between  the  Alps  and  the 
Apennines,  the  inner  and  the  outer  gates  of  Italy, 
and  which,  though  not  Italian,  has  played  so  great  a 
part  in  the  fulfilment  of  her  destiny,  is  for  the  most  part 
a  vast  plain,  fundamentally  divided  from  west  to  east 
into  two  not  unequal  parts  by  a  great  river,  the  Po, 
and  everywhere  watered  and  nourished  by  its  two 
hundred  tributaries.  To  the  north  of  the  Po  lie  two 
great  provinces  :  to  the  west  LombardJ^  to  the  east 
Venetia,  separated  by  the  Lago  di  Garda  and  the 
Mincio.  To  the  south  lie  three  smaller  provinces, 
Parma,  Modena  and  Romagna,  now  gathered  into  the 
single  new  province  of  Emilia  :  and  these  are  the  more 
Italian  parts  of  the  great  plain.  To  the  west  of  all 
these,  on  both  sides  of  the  Po,  stretches  the  huge  pro- 
vince of  Piedmont  at  the  foot  of  the  Alps.  Of  these 
six  provinces  those  of  Venetia  and  Piedmont  lie  outside 
the  subject  of  this  book ;  their  history  and  their 
development  have  been  very  different  from  those  of 
the  rest  of  Cisalpine  Gaul,  and  though  geographically 
they  seem  to  form  parts  of  it,  even  the  Romans  re- 
cognised that  they  were  controlled  by  forces  outside 
it  and  that  both  racially  and  politically  they  were 
separate  from  it.     Venetia,  whose  destiny  in  the  Middle 


CISALPINE  GAUL  5 

Ages  and  for  long  after  was  determined  by  that  of 
Venice,  was  peopled  by  a  race  which  was  always  hostile 
to  the  Gauls  of  the  upper  and  middle  valley,  and  which 
helped  the  Romans  to  subdue  them  ;  while  Piedmont, 
which  has  lately  given  a  king  of  the  Switzer  House 
of  Savoy  to  modern  Italy,  was,  so  far  as  it  lies  to  the  south 
of  the  Po,  included  by  the  Romans  in  the  province 
of  Liguria  and  largely,  so  far  as  it  lies  to  the  north  of 
that  river,  was  in  the  territory  of  the  Inalpini — the 
mountain  folk  who  were  not  brought  within  the  Roman 
power  till  the  time  of  Augustus.^  We  are  left,  then, 
with  four  great  provinces,  Lombardy  to  the  north, 
Parma,  Modena  and  Romagna  to  the  south  of  the  Po  : 
these,  and  especially  the  first  three,  were  the  real 
Cisalpine  Gaul. 

The  history  of  this  vast  country  before  the  Roman 
Conquest,  is,  as  is  history  everywhere  before  that 
event,  vague  and  obscure.  But  this  at  least  seems 
certain :  before  the  advent  of  the  Gauls  continental 
Italy,  all  this  great  valley  of  the  Po  that  is,  was  in 
the  hands  of  the  Etruscans,  who  built  towns  here,  cut 
canals  and  roads,  and  to  some  extent,  at  any  rate,  cleared 
the  forests.  Mantua  was  a  town  of  theirs  and,  always 
saved  by  its  marshes,  it  remains  to  this  day ;  Melpum, 
as  Pliny  calls  it,  perhaps  the  greatest  of  their  cities, 
has  perished. 

The  Gauls  seem  to  have  come  into  this  valley  from 
over  the  Alps,  first  as  traders  and  then,  according 
to  the  authorities  which  Livy  followed,  in  the  reign  of 
Tarquinius  Prisons,  but  at  any  rate  not  before  the 
second  half  of  the  third  century  of  the  City,  as  invaders 
and  conquerors,  such  conquerors,  in  fact,  that  the  most 
famous  date  in  the  early  history  of  Rome  is  that  of  their 
capture  of  the  City  in  388  B.C.    They  were,  and  still 

^  With  Venetia  I  have  already  dealt  in  my  Venice  and  Venetia 
(Methuen,  191 1) ;  with  Piedmont  and  Liguria  I  hope  to  deal  in 
another  volume. 


6  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

are,  on  both  sides  of  the  Alps  a  great  military  people. 
"With  the  Gauls,"  says  Sallust,i  "the  Romans  fought 
not  for  glory  but  for  existence."  The  Gauls,  the  elder 
Cato^  tells  us,  "devote  themselves  mainly  to  two  things 
—  fighting  and  debate."  They  were,  too,  a  pastoral 
rather  than  an  agricultural  people. 

The  advent  of  the  Gauls  into  the  valley  of  the  Po, 
whenever  it  may  have  begun,  was  a  long  process, 
which  renewed  itself  from  time  to  time,  notably  in  the 
third  century  before  our  era,  and  continued,  doubtless, 
till  a  comparatively  late  time.  When  Rome  began  to 
undertake  their  conquest  we  find  them  settled  somewhat 
as  follows  on  either  side  the  Po.  To  the  north  of  that 
river,  from  west  to  east  we  find  the  Insubres,  the  first 
comers,  settled  about  Milan  and  as  far  east  as  the  Adda ; 
the  Cenomani,  who  followed  them,  were  settled  between 
the  Adda  and  the  Adige  about  the  towns  of  Mantua, 
Cremona,  Brescia  and  Bergamo.  Both  these  tribes 
crossed  the  Graian  Alps  by  the  Little  St.  Bernard. 
South  of  the  Po,  again  from  west  to  east,  we  find  the 
Boii  about  Piacenza,  Parma  and  Bologna ;  the  Lingones, 
a  marsh  people,  probably  the  last  to  submit  to  the 
Roman  yoke,  about  Ferrara ;  and  the  Senones,  the  last 
of  the  larger  Gaulish  tribes  to  cross  the  Alps,  settled 
in  the  country  about  Rimini  and  Senigaglia.  These 
three  tribes  are  thought  to  have  crossed  the  Pennine 
Alps  by  the  Great  St.  Bernard.  Such  were  the  chief 
Gallic  tribes  that  settled  in  the  valley ;  all  were  Celtic 
and  all  were  people  of  the  plain,  only  inhabiting  those 
parts  of  the  hills  which  were  close  to  the  plain.  In 
Roman  history  the  more  formidable  of  these  tribes 
would  appear  to  have  been  the  Insubres  and  the  Boii ; 
but  all  the  Gauls  were  born  soldiers,  and  the  Romans 
from  the  beginning  realist^  this  and  set  apart  a  treasure 
in  the  capitol  for  the  almost  perpetual  Gallic  war.^ 

1  Bell.  Jug.  c.  114.  "  Cato,  Orig.  1.  ii.  fr.  2  (Jordan). 

3  Cf.  Appian,  B.G.,  ii.  41,  aud  Livy,  xxvii.  10. 


CISALPINE  GAUL  7 

That  first  sack  of  Rome  by  the  Gauls  in  388  B.C., 
which  makes  so  picturesque  an  episode  in  the  legends 
of  the  City,  was  followed,  according  to  Polybius,  thirty 
years  later  by  another  invasion  of  Italy,  in  which  this  for- 
midable people  got  as  far  as  Alba  and  found  the  Romans 
afraid  to  meet  them.  Twelve  years  later  we  find  them 
again  attacking  Rome;  but  the  Romans  were  ready, 
and  they  retreated  before  the  armies  of  the  City  and  her 
allies.  Then  followed  a  formal  peace  which  the  Gauls 
observed  for  thirty  years ;  but  it  is  easy  to  see  how 
dangerous  an  enemy  these  barbarians  were  to  Latium ; 
how  terrible  they  appeared  in  the  Roman  imagination 
is  proved  by  the  legends  that  the  Roman  tradition 
still  preserves  concerning  them,  in  which,  for  instance, 
we  see  Titus  Manlius  meeting  a  Gallic  giant  in  single 
combat  on  the  banks  of  the  Anio. 

These  Gallic  incursions  into  Italy  continued  until  in 
the  year  296,  for  the  first  time,  the  Romans  were  able 
to  inflict  a  signal  defeat  upon  the  Galli  and  the  Samnites 
in  Gallic  territory  at  Sentinum,  on  the  north  side  of  the 
Apennines.  Livy  tells  us  that  in  that  fight  there  fell 
25,000  Gauls,  a  slaughter  which  later  writers  vastly 
exaggerate.  Nevertheless,  some  years  later  the  Senones 
laid  siege  to  Arezzo,  then  an  Etruscan  town  under  the 
protection  of  Rome.  It  was  L.  Caecilius  Metellus  who, 
at  the  head  of  a  Roman  army,  came  to  its  relief.  It  is 
said  by  Livy  that  the  Romans  first  sent  ambassadors 
to  the  Senones  to  induce  them  to  retire,  but  that  these 
were  murdered.  However  that  may  be,  P.  Cornelius 
Dolabella  presently  entered  the  country  of  the  Senones, 
burning  as  he  went,  putting  the  men  to  the  sword  and 
carrying  off  the  women  and  children.  The  fighting 
men  of  the  Senones  were  then  before  Arezzo.  There 
they  met  Metellus  and  defeated  him.  Neverthe- 
less, Arezzo  did  not  fall,  and  Dolabella  was  in  283  B.C. 
able  to  give  the  Senones  a  complete  defeat.  Most 
of  them  fell  in  battle,  as  was  their  custom,  and  the 


8  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

Romans  thus,  for  the  first  time,  were  able  to  get  a 
footing  north  of  the  Apennines  and  on  the  Adriatic 
coast.  Here  they  established  a  burgess-colony,  the 
first  in  Gallic  territory  ;  and  they  called  it  Sena  Gallica 
to  distinguish  it  from  Sena  in  Etruria. 

As  might  be  expected,  this  breaking  of  the  Senones 
stirred  their  neighbours  the  Boii,  who,  with  the  frightened 
Etruscans,  began  a  march  on  Rome  :  Rome  met  them 
at  Lake  Vadimon,  that  is,  Lago  di  Bassano,  and  cut 
them  to  pieces  :  but  they  would  not  be  denied.  In 
the  next  year  they  gathered  all  their  youth  and  again 
with  the  Etruscans  were  signally  defeated.  Rome  was 
learning  her  business  and,  pitting  order  and  civilisation 
against  the  natural  military  qualities  of  the  Gauls, 
won  these  hard  victories. 

The  fear  that  had  hurled  the  Boii  against  Rome  was 
well  founded.  They  had  seen  the  burgess-colony  of 
Sena  Gallica  established  in  Gaulish  territory ;  they 
were  now  to  see  set  up  the  Latin  colony  of  Ariminum, 
that  is,  of  Rimini.  They  were  not  slow  to  understand 
that  Rome  intended  their  total  destruction,  and  great 
military  people  as  they  were,  they  but  waited  to  recruit 
their  strength  and  to  find  allies  to  renew  the  war. 

Their  first  act  was  to  ally  themselves  with  the 
Insubres,  the  greatest  of  the  Gallic  peoples,  and  then 
with  their  new  friends  to  invite  other  Gauls  from  over 
the  Alps  to  help  them  in  their  fight  for  existence. 
In  225  B.C.,  then,  the  greatest  army  the  Gauls  had 
yet  put  in  the  field  entered  Italy,  to  decide,  as  it  proved, 
who  were  to  be  masters.  Yet  even  so  the  Gauls  fought 
under  this  disadvantage  :  that  they  were  not  one. 
For  the  Veneti  (if  Gauls  they  were)  and  the  Cenomani 
had  allied  themselves  with  Rome,  and  it  was  necessary 
to  leave  a  force  in  Gaul  to  watch  them.  Nevertheless, 
it  is  said  the  Gaulish  army  entered  Italy  with  50,000 
foot  and  20,000  horse.  Against  them  Rome  was  able 
to  bring,  for  all  Italy  was  alarmed,  some  150,000  foot 


CISALPINE  GAUL  9 

and  6000  horse.  In  spite  of  this  formidable  army 
Italy  was  open  so  far  as  Clusium  (Chiusi),  which  the 
Gauls  plundered :  then  suddenly  learning  that  a 
Roman  force  was  already  outflanking  them,  they 
retired  on  the  road  towards  Faesulse  (Fiesole)  where  a 
battle  was  fought  in  which  the  Italians  were  defeated. 
But  Fortune,  the  great  decider  of  war,  was  against 
them.  For  they  had  still  to  reckon  with  the  out- 
flanking army  of  the  Romans  under  the  consul  L. 
iEmilius  Papus  ;  and  then  by  chance  L.  Atilius  Regulus, 
the  other  consul,  at  this  time  returned  from  Sardinia, 
and,  landing  his  troops  at  Pisa,  went  to  meet  them. 
The  Gauls,  who  after  their  victory  had  taken  the 
level  road  northward  along  the  Etruscan  coast,  were 
thus  caught  between  two  great  forces.  Nevertheless, 
they  were  not  cast  down,  but,  like  the  great  and  skilful 
soldiers  they  were,  forming  two  lines  of  battle  they 
faced  both  armies  near  Telamo  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Ombrone.  There  the  battle  was  joined  and  Rome 
proved  completely  victorious.  It  is  said  that  40,000 
Gauls  fell  on  that  day,  while  10,000  were  made  prisoners. 
*'Thus,"  says  Polybius,  "was  the  most  formidable  of 
the  Celtic  invasions  brought  to  naught  after  threatening 
all  Italy,  and  especially  Rome,  with  great  and  terrible 
danger." 

In  the  following  year  the  Boii  submitted  along  with 
the  Lingones,  thus  bringing  all  the  territory  south  of  the 
Po  into  the  hands  of  the  Romans.  In  223  B.C.  the 
Roman  army  was  able  to  cross  the  Po,  which  it  did 
near  Piacenza,  under  C.  Flaminius,  and  to  meet  the 
Insubres.  In  the  next  year  M.  Claudius  Marcellus  and 
Cn.  Cornelius  Scipio  took  Acerrae  (the  modern  village 
of  Gera,  near  Cremona,  on  the  Adda),  and  finally  Medio- 
lanian  (Milan),  the  chief  stronghold  of  the  Insubres,  by 
storm.     The  Insubres  ^bmitted  without  terms. 

That  great  but  insecure  peace  was  followed  by  the 
foundation  in  the  heart  of  Cisalpine  Gaul  of  two  Roman 


10  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

fortresses,  each  of  6000  men,  one  at  Placentia  (Piacenza) 
on  the  southern  bank  of  the  Po,  the  other  at  Cremona, 
lower  down  on  the  northern  shore ;  Mutina  (Modena), 
too,  was  defended  by  walls,  and  preparations  were 
already  on  foot  for  continuing  the  great  Flaminian 
road,  lately  advanced  to  Rimini,  through  these  forts 
to  Piacenza,  when  a  sudden  unexpected  disaster  pre- 
vented this  achievement.  In  the  year  218  B.C.,  Hannibal 
and  his  Orientals  made  their  descent  upon  Italy. 

Hannibal  doubtless  hoped,  by  marching  through  the 
two  Gauls,  to  obtain  a  great  assistance  from  these 
brave  fighting  peoples  in  his  attack  upon  Italy  and 
Rome.  Nor  was  he  disappointed,  for  when  in  the 
early  autumn  of  218  B.C.  he  came  ir.to  the  valley  of  the 
Po  over  the  Alps,^  his  forces  diminished  and  weakened 
by  that  great  passage,  the  Boii  and  the  Insubres  so 
lately  vanquished  had  already  invaded  the  colonies  of 
Placentia  and  Cremona  and  were  engaged  in  the  siege 
of  Mutina.  Yet,  as  always,  the  Veneti,  the  Cenomani 
and  the  Ligures  were  on  the  Roman  side,  and  Publius 
Cornelius  Scipio,  the  nephew  of  the  conqueror  of  the 
Insubres,  the  son  of  the  conqueror  of  Hanno  and  the 
father  of  Scipio  Africanus,  appearing  suddenly  on  the 
scene,  was  able,  more  or  less,  to  cause  the  Boii  and  the 
Insubres  to  waver.  Scipio  met  Hannibal  in  the  first 
engagement,  an  affair  of  cavalry,  on  the  right  bank  of 
the  Ticino,  not  far  from  Vercelli,  and  the  Roman  defeat 
secured  to  Hannibal  the  allegiance  of  the  Gauls,  the 
finest  fighting  material  in  Italy  and  perhaps  in  Europe, 
who  thenceforth  followed  the  Oriental  throughout  his 
Italian  campaigns. 

It  might  be  an  interesting  question  to  decide  what 
the  fate  of  Hannibal  would  have  been  without  his 
European  allies  :  I  mean  those  Iberian  and  especially 
those  Gallic  troops  which  formed  so  great  a  part  of 
his  fighting  strength :  a  question,  perhaps,  impossible  to 
^  Mommsen  thinks  he  crossed  by  the  Little  St.  Bernard, 


CISALPINE  GAUL  ii 

answer.  Nevertheless,  it  was  the  Gauls  who,  apart 
from  his  own  genius,  won  for  him  his  most  famous 
victory  of  the  Trebia,  for  the  Iberians  and  the  Libyans 
suffered  there  but  little  loss.  The  Gauls,  on  the  other 
hand,  suffered  terribly.  We  shall  speak  fully  of  the 
battle  of  the  Trebia,  which  threw  all  Italy  open  to  the 
Oriental,  when  we  come  to  its  lonely  site  in  that  great 
loop  of  the  river  near  Piacenza.  Here  it  remains 
to  be  said  that  the  Gauls,  some  60,000  foot  and  4000 
horse,  marched  with  Hannibal  over  the  Apennines  into 
the  Serchio  valley,  into  the  Val  d'  Arno,  into  Italy, 
and  again  at  Trasimenus  bore  the  brunt  of  the  battle — 
that  was  a  bloody  April  day  for  them, — and  at  Cannae 
left  4000  of  their  number  dead  upon  the  field,  more  than 
two-thirds  of  the  whole  Carthaginian  loss.  It  is  well 
that  we  should  recall  that  these  Oriental  victories  were, 
so  far  as  the  fighting  went,  mainly  the  work  of  Europeans, 
of  the  Gauls. 

It  may  well  be  that  these  heavy  losses  at  the  Trebia,  at 
Trasimenus  and  at  Canna?  undid  Hannibal  in  spite  of 
his  victories.  At  any  rate,  Cannae  is  his  last  victory. 
His  communications  with  Cisalpine  Gaul  were  cut  off 
and  he  could  not  replenish  the  exhausted  companies 
of  his  most  desperate  and  gallant  fighters.  Yet  it 
was  just  what  he  tried  to  do ;  and  it  might  seem  that 
with  his  usual  omniscience  he  understood  that  on  his 
success  in  getting  Gaulish  soldiers  depended  his  campaign, 
as  much  as  on  his  breaking  of  the  Latin  league.  In  207, 
eleven  years  after  crossing  the  Alps,  he  caused  his 
younger  brother  Hasdrubal  to  follow  him  by  the  same 
road  through  Gaul.  Hasdrubal  was  successful  in 
finding  Gaulish  allies ;  but  by  this  time  luck,  as  always 
the  greatest  factor  in  war,  had  deserted  the  Carthaginians. 
M.  Livius  Salinator  had  been  sent  to  assail  Hasdrubal 
on  the  Metaurus  in  Sena  Gallica.  C.  Claudius  Nero, 
the  other  consul,  being  with  Hannibal  in  the  south, 
as  it  happened  intercepted  a  letter  from   Hasdrubal, 


li  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

and  in  a  moment  turned  northward,  joined  his  colleague, 
compelled  Hasdrubal  to  fight,  and  overwhelmingly 
defeated  his  enemy.  In  that  battle  Hasdrubal  had 
posted  his  Gauls  against  the  right  wing  of  the  Roman 
army  where  Nero  had  placed  his  best  soldiers  :  they  fell 
in  thousands,  and  Hasdrubal's  head  was  ignominiously 
flung  into  the  camp  of  Hannibal.  If  that  great  man 
did  not  despair,  it  was  only  because  the  son  of  Hamilcar 
was  living  and  by  his  efforts  he  still  hoped  to  recruit 
the  Gauls.  In  the  summer  of  205  B.C.  Mago  landed 
on  the  coast  of  Liguria,  seized  Genua  and  gathered -in 
all  the  Gauls.  For  two  years  he  was  able  to  maintain 
himself  in  Cisalpine  Gaul,  but  never  to  reach  Hannibal. 
There,  wounded  and  defeated,  he  was  recalled  and  died 
on  the  voyage  home.  Hannibal,  too,  was  recalled  about 
the  same  time ;  yet  when  Scipio  followed  him  to  Africa 
he  still  had  his  Gauls  with  him,  such  as  were  left  of 
them,  and  at  the  battle  of  Zama  in  202  B.C.  a  third  of 
his  army  was,  it  is  said,  composed  of  them.  Thus 
ended  the  Second  Punic  War  201  B.C. 

A  kind  of  guerilla  war  was  still  maintained  in 
Cisalpine  Gaul,  for  the  Gauls  could  now  expect  no 
mercy  from  Rome,  headed  by  one  of  Mago's  officers, 
Hamilcar,  who  stirred  up  the  Insubres,  the  Boii  and 
the  Cenomani  and  burnt  Placentia  and  laid  siege  to 
Cremona.  It  is  curious  to  find  that  these  two  colonies 
had  been  able  to  maintain  themselves  all  through  the 
great  campaign,  and  it  was  by  finally  securing  them 
that  the  Romans  at  last  were  able  to  stamp  out  the 
guerilla  war  in  one  battle,  in  which  it  is  said 
Hamilcar  perished,  and  30,000  Boii  were  slain  by 
the  treachery  of  their  uncertain  allies  the  Cenomani. 
The  Boii  retreated  into  the  country  of  the  Insubres, 
where  the  Romans  soon  followed  them  and  won  a 
great  battle  near  the  town  of  Comum,  which  they  took. 
Yet  again  in  152  B.C.,  nine  years  after  the  end  of  the 
Second  Punic  War,  the  Gauls  were  threatening  Placentia, 


CISALPINE  GAUL  13 

and  indeed  it  was  not  till  two  years  later  that  the 
Boii  were  finally  subdued  by  wholesale  massacre. 
The  two  colonies  of  Placentia  and  Cremona  were  then 
secured,  and  in  189  B.C.  the  Romans  founded  the  Latin 
colony  of  Bononia  (Bologna),  and  six  years  later  the 
Roman  ^  colonies  of  Parma  and  Mutina  were  settled. 

Meanwhile,  in  187  B.C.  the  ^Emilian  Way  had  been 
built  from  Rimini  to  Piacenza  and  the  track  over  the 
Apennines  from  Arezzo  to  Bologna  was  put  into  proper 
order.  Thus  by  the  year  183  B.C.  we  see  the  whole 
of  Cisalpine  Gaul  south  of  the  Po  in  Roman  occupation 
and  government. 

As  for  Transpadana,  that  part  of  it  which  consisted 
of  the  province  of  Venetia  had  ever  been  an  ally  of  the 
Romans,  but  with  the  conquered  territories  of  the 
Insubres  and  the  Cenomani  the  Romans  dealt  other- 
wise than  they  did  with  the  district  south  of  the 
Po.  Perhaps  they  were  not  ready  to  settle  them ; 
however  that  may  be,  these  districts  were  allowed 
to  retain  their  national  constitution  so  that  they  formed 
not  town  domains  like  those  south  of  the  Po,  but  tribal 
cantons,  and  no  tribute  so  far  as  we  know  was  imposed 
upon  them.  The  policy  of  Rome  here  was  perhaps  what 
we  might  call  one  of  peaceful  penetration,  a  gradual 
Latinising  of  the  whole  country,  and  this  process  would 
seem,  if  we  may  believe  Polybius,  to  have  been  so 
successful  that  when  he  visited  the  country  towards 
the  close  of  the  second  century  before  our  era,  he 
found  only  a  few  villages  among  the  Alps  still  Celtic. 
But  what  we  know  of  the  whole  of  Cisalpine  Gaul  as  a 
Roman  province  in  the  time  of  the  Republic  amounts 
to  very  little.  That  it  was,  in  fact,  rapidly  Romanised 
we  may  well  believe,  and  we  know  that  it  became  one 
of  the  most  valuable  provinces  of  the  Empire.     In  the 

^  Roman  colonies  (Coloniae  Civium  Romanorum)  were  Roman 
communities  and  consisted  only  of  Roman  citizens.  Latin 
colonies  were  composed  either  of  Roman  citizens  or  of  Latini. 


14  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

Social  War  it  took  no  part  and  it  was  probably  as  a 
reward  that  in  89  B.C.  the  towns  north  of  the  Po  received 
the  Jus  Latinitas,  and  it  is  generally  supposed  that  the 
towns  south  of  the  Po  at  the  same  time  received  the 
Roman  civitas  and  by  virtue  of  the  same  Lex  Pompeia. 
At  this  time,  of  course,  Transpadana,  and  especially 
that  part  of  it  we  now  call  Lombardy,  had  not  the 
importance  to  which  it  later  attained.  It  was  only 
under  the  Empire  that  Mediolanum  became  the  chief 
city  of  Northern  Italy,  and  the  reason  of  this  may  well 
have  been  its  proximity  to  the  Alps. 

No  account  of  Lombardy,  of  all  that  the  Lombard  plain 
means  in  the  history  of  Italy  and  of  Europe,  can  be  com- 
plete which  does  not  take  into  account  the  influence  of  the 
Alps  upon  this  great  country,  which  at  once  they  threaten 
and  protect:  which  they  threaten,  because  their  southern 
escarpment  is  so  much  steeper  and  more  difficult 
everjrwhere  than  the  northern  slope ;  which  they 
protect  because  for  any  civilised  army  their  passage 
either  way  is  so  difficult.  These  mountains,  the  greatest 
in  Europe,  extend  without  interruption  and  in  what 
may  be  roughly  considered  as  a  single  range  from  the 
Mediterranean,  between  Marseilles  and  Genoa,  to  the 
Adriatic  near  Trieste,  forming,  as  Strabo  says,  a  great 
curve  like  a  bow,  its  concave  side  to  the  south,  completely 
hemming  in  Cisalpine  Gaul  and  with  her  Italy  from  the 
north,  from  Gaul  and  the  Germanics.  This  enormous 
barrier  was,  long  after  the  conquest  and  settlement  of 
Cisalpine  Gaul,  almost  unknown  to  the  Romans,  and 
it  was  not  till  the  time  of  Augustus  that  the  tribes 
which  held  it  can  be  said  to  have  been  subjugated. 

It  is  true  that  many  of  the  passes  across  the  great 
central  chain  were  so  clearly  indicated  by  the  course  of 
the  rivers  which  rise  there  that  from  the  earliest  times 
they  had  been  known  to  the  tribes  in  their  neighbour- 
hood.    Indeed,  long  before  the  passage  of  Hannibal,  as 


CISALPINE  GAUL  15 

we  have  seen,  the  mountains  had  been  crossed  by 
successive  Gaulish  invaders ;  but  long  after  the  settle- 
ment of  the  great  plain,  long  after  Rome  bore  sway 
in  three  continents,  the  Alps  which  sheltered  her  on 
the  north  were  in  all  their  extent  "  from  one  end  to  the 
other"  filled  with  unfriendly  and  barbaric  tribes  of 
Illyrian,  Rhaetian  or  Celtic  blood,  whose  conquest 
had  often  enough  been  proclaimed  at  the  Capitol,  but  who, 
nevertheless,  remained  free,  and  constantly  plundered 
the  farmers  and  merchants  of  Upper  Italy.^  It  became 
necessary  at  last  to  cross  the  Alps  in  force  and  to  bring 
the  northern  watershed  into  a  real  subjection,  for  the 
tribes  were  constantly  reinforced  and  urged  forward 
into  the  plain  by  the  Gaulish  or  German  tribes  beyond 
the  mountains.  At  first  the  southern  slopes  and  valleys 
were  conquered  and  held,  and  then  in  15  a.d.  the  Roman 
power  crossed  the  passes  and  established  itself  in  the 
adjoining  country  to  the  northward.  This  was  largely 
the  work  of  the  two  stepsons  of  Augustus,  while  the 
Emperor  himself  went  in  person  to  Gaul  to  superintend 
the  war  and  to  organise  the  new  province.  On  the 
height  above  Monaco,  where  La  Turbie  looks  so  far 
across  the  Tyrrhene  sea,  there  yet  stands  a  monument 
not  altogether  effaced  erected  by  a  grateful  Italy  to 
the  Emperor  for  that,  under  his  government,  all  the 
Alpine  tribes  had  been  brought  into  the  power  of  the 
Roman  people.  From  that  time,  then,  we  may  date  the 
true  advancement  of  Mediolanum  and  its  wide  district. 
As  the  Romans  became  thus  really  acquainted  with 
the  Alps  they  began  to  recognise  that  in  their  physical 
character  they  did  not  in  fact  consist  of  one  range  but 
of  many ;  and  though  Strabo  admits,  and  his  descrip- 
tion fully  bears  him  out,  that  their  geography  was  still 
imperfectly  known,  yet,  roughly  speaking,  the  Romans 
divided  them,   and  rightly,   into  six  great  chains  or 

^  Cf .   Mommsen,   History  of  Rome :    The  Provinces,  part  i. 
[Eng.  Trs.],  p.  15. 


i6  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

barriers,  namely,  the  Alpes  MaritimcB,  the  Alpes 
CotticB,  the  Alpes  GraicBy  the  Alpes  PennincE,  the  Alpes 
RhcBticcB,  and  the  Alpes  VenetcB.  The  extent  of  these 
several  ranges  the  Romans,  so  far  as  we  know,  never 
very  precisely  defined,  but  we  may  guess  at  them  with 
fair  accuracy  in  considering  that  most  important  feature 
of  all  mountains,  the  Passes.  These  can  best  be  shown 
in  such  a  table  as  the  following  : — 

THE  MAIN  PASSES  INTO  LOMBARDY  IN  EACH  SECTION  OF 
THE   ALPS   IN   ANCIENT  AND   MODERN  TIMES 

(a)  Maritime  Alps. 

I.  The  Coast  Road  (known  to  Hannibal ;  renewed 
and  partly  constructed  by  Augustus;  the 
road  of  Hadrian  and  of  Christianity) . 
(/3)  Cottian  Alps. 

1.  Mont  Genevre  (crossed  by  the  Gauls ;    road 

opened  by  Pompey,  finished  by  Cottius, 
Prince  of  Susa,  under  Augustus;  crossed 
by  Constantine  (Gibbon)). 

2.  Mont  Cenis  (military  road  in  the  Middle  Ages). 
(y)  Graian  Alps. 

I.  Little  St.  Bernard  (crossed  by  the  Gauls,  by 
Hannibal     (Mommsen),     Hasdrubal     and 
Caesar). 
(8)  Pennine  [and  Lepontine]  Alps. 

1.  Great  St.  Bernard  (military  road  by  J.  Caesar 

and  Augustus,  crossed  by  Charlemagne  in 
773  and  by  Napoleon  in  i8oo). 

2.  Simplon  (military  road  by  Napoleon). 

3.  Gries  (medieval  track). 

4.  Nufenen  (medieval  track). 

5.  St.  Gotthard  (modern), 
(c)  Rhaetian  Alps. 

1.  Spliigen. 

2.  Julier  (known   to   the  Romans;   crossed  by 

Frederic  11.). 

3.  Brenner  (the  ancient  pass  over  this  range ;  in 

part  opened  by  Drusus;  a  military  road 
constructed  by  his  son,  the  Emperor 
Claudius). 


CISALPINE  GAUL  17 

Such,  then,  were  the  passages  that  led,  though  hardly 
through  the  outer  gates  of  Italy  into  her  great  defence, 
the  vast  plain  of  Cisalpine  Gaul  that  lay  before  her 
inner  gates,  only  less  strong,  the  peaked  Apennines. 
We  must  conceive  of  them,  of  such  of  them  as  were 
known  and  in  use,^  as  flung  open  wide  but  guarded  in 
the  great  years  of  the  Empire,  for  the  victories  of 
Caesar,  who  had  both  the  Gauls,  Cisalpine  Gaul  by  a 
vote  of  the  people,  Transalpine  Gaul  by  a  vote  of  the 
senate,  for  his  provinces,  the  conquests  and  statesman- 
ship of  Augustus  had  brought  these  great  barriers 
within  the  Roman  government  and  thus  gave  to 
Italy,  for  when  Caesar  died  Cisalpine  Gaul  was  in- 
corporated into  Italy,  and  by  this  means,  not  only 
security  but  peace  for  some  four  hundred  years. 

The  Pax  Romana  :  it  is  the  work  of  the  Empire ; 
a  thing  in  our  modern  Europe  hard  to  conceive  of,  but 
proper  to  Christendom,  and  perhaps  if  we  could  but  see 
it  even  to-day  only  awaiting  our  recognition. 

Those  first  four  centuries  of  our  era  in  which  Christen- 
dom was  founded  and  Europe  appeared,  not  as  we  know 
it  to-day  as  a  mosaic  of  hostile  nationalities,  but  as 
one  perfect  whole,  have  never  been  rightly  understood ; 
they  still  lack  an  historian,  and  the  splendour  of  their 
achievement,  their  magnitude  and  importance  are 
wholly  misconceived  or  ignored.  In  our  modern  self- 
conceit  we  are  ignorant  both  of  what  they  were  in 
themselves  and  of  what  we  owe  to  them ;  and,  largely 
through  the  collapse  of  Europe  in  the  sixteenth  century 
and  its  appalling  results  both  in  thought  and  in 
politics,  we  are  led,  too  often  by  the  wilful  lying  of  our 
historians,  to  regard  them  rather  as  the  prelude  to  the 
decline  and  fall  of  the  Empire  than  as  the  great  and 

^  That  is  to  say,  in  the  Maritime  Alps  the  Coast  Road,  in  the 
Cottian  Alps  the  Mont  Gen^vre,  in  the  Graian  Alps  the  Little 
St.  Bernard,  in  the  Pennine  Alps  the  Great  St.  Bernard,  and  in 
Rhcstian  Alps  the  Brenner  and  perhaps  the  Julier: 
2 


i8  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

indestructible  foundations  of  all  that  is  worth  having 
in  the  world. 

For,  rightly  understood,  those  first  four  centuries 
gave  us  not  only  our  culture,  our  civilisation,  and  our 
Faith,  but  ensured  them  to  us  that  they  should  always 
endure.  They  established  for  ever  the  great  lines 
upon  which  our  art  was  to  develop,  to  change,  and  yet 
not  to  suffer  annihilation  or  barrenness.  They  estab- 
lished the  supremacy  of  the  idea,  so  that  it  might  always 
renew  our  lives,  our  culture  and  our  polity,  and  that  we 
might  judge  everything  by  it  and  fear  neither  revolution, 
defeat  nor  decay.  They,  and  they  alone,  established 
us  in  the  secure  possession  of  our  own  souls,  so  that  we 
alone  in  the  world  develop  from  within  to  change  but 
never  to  die  and  to  be — yes  alone  in  the  world — 
Christians. 

And  if  the  whole  Empire  thus  took  on  a  final  and 
heroic  form  in  those  years  of  the  Empire  and  the  peace. 
Cisalpine  Gaul  more  than  any  other  province  then 
came  to  fruition.  It  was  there  Virgil  and  Catullus 
and  the  Pliny s,  to  name  no  others,  were  born,  and  if 
we  turn  to  the  province  itself,  there  is  scarcely  a  town 
in  that  wide  plain  that  did  not  expand  and  increase 
in  a  fashion  almost  miraculous  during  that  period. 
It  was  then  the  rivers  were  embanked,  the  canals 
were  made,  the  great  roads  planned  and  constructed, 
and  our  communications  established  for  ever.  There 
is  no  industry  that  did  not  grow  incredibly  in  strength, 
there  is  not  a  class  that  did  not  increase  in  well-being 
beyond  our  dreams  of  progress.  There  is  scarcely  any- 
thing that  is  really  fundamental  in  our  lives  and  in  our 
politics  that  was  not  then  created  that  it  might  endure. 
It  was  then  that  our  religion,  the  soul  of  Europe,  was 
born,  and  little  by  little  absorbed  us  so  that  it  became 
the  energy  and  the  cause  of  all  that  undying  but 
changeful  principle  of  life  and  freedom  which,  rightly 
understood,  is  Europe.     Our  ideas  of  justice,  our  ideas 


CISALPINE  GAUL  19 

of  law,  our  conception  of  human  dignity  and  the  structure 
of  our  society  were  then  conceived  and  with  such  force 
that  while  we  endure  they  can  never  die. 

But  it  is  at  the  end  of  the  third  century  that  Cisalpine 
Gaul  begins  to  emerge  into  a  vast  political  importance. 
In  292  A.D.,  on  the  partition  of  the  Empire  by  Diocletian, 
Milan  became  the  capital  of  the  vicariate  of  Italy. 
There  Maximus  Hercules  had  his  residence  and  there 
his  successor  held  a  sumptuous  court.  It  was,  too, 
from  Milan  that  Constantine  dated  his  famous  edict 
authorising  the  practice  of  Christianity  in  313  A.D.,  and 
it  was  Milan  that  Valentinian  made  in  364  a.d.  the 
capital  of  the  west,  and  S.  Ambrose  (340-397)  established 
as  in  some  sort  the  rival  of  Rome,  the  religious  metro- 
polis of  Italy. 

Nor  in  this  splendour  was  Milan  alone ;  all  the  cities 
of  Cisalpine  Gaul  shared  in  her  greatness  and  enjoyed 
their  own,  and  if  a  general  decline  in  wealth,  and  the 
appearance  of  civil  war  in  the  end  of  the  fourth  century 
began  to  destroy  what  had  been  so  splendid,  they  but 
exposed  the  decline  and  presaged  the  sudden  faU  that 
no  one  suspected.  In  that  decline  Cisalpine  Gaul, 
like  the  rest  of  Europe,  was  to  return  to  its  origins  and 
once  more  to  play  the  part  designed  for  it,  that  of  the 
cockpit  and  the  defence  of  Italy  and  with  Italy  of  Europe. 

The  Empire  which  it  had  taken  more  than  a  millennium 
to  build,  which  was  the  most  noble  and  perhaps  the  most 
beneficent  experiment  in  government  that  has  ever  been 
made,  was  in  obvious  economic  and  administrative  decay 
before  the  beginning  of  the  fifth  century.  In  401  Alaric 
and  his  Goths  crossed  the  Julian  Alps ;  in  that  same 
year  Honorius  fled  from  Milan  to  the  impregnable 
marshes  of  Ravenna  ;  in  493  Theodoric  and  his  Ostro- 
goths had  destroyed  the  last  appearance  of  the  imperial 
power  left  to  western  Europe,  and  it  was  already  obvious 
that  we  should  not  again  acknowledge  an  emperor 
acclaimed  at  Ravenna.    The  only  chance  left  us,  then, 


20  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

was  that  we  might  be  reconquered  and  reorganised 
from  Constantinople.  For  more  than  fifty  years  that 
chance  seemed  still  possible  :  it  finally  and  violently 
passed  away  when  the  Lombards  crossed  the  Alps  in  568 
and  established  themselves  in  the  valley  of  the  Po. 

We  may  well  ask  why  the  Empire  fell ;  but  we  can 
expect  no  very  clear  answer  to  that  question.  If  we 
could  answer  it,  most  of  the  problems  that  we  have  to 
face  in  Europe  to-day  would  have  received  their  solu- 
tion. Superficially,  the  cause  was  the  weakness  of  the 
north-eastern  frontier.  Every  invasion  that  was  more 
than  a  raid  came  from  the  Danube  and  entered  Italy 
by  the  passes  of  the  Julian  Alps,  past  the  city  or  the 
ruins  of  Aquileia.  The  imperial  army  was  never  strong 
enough  upon  that  tremendous  frontier. 

But  no  such  excuse  can  satisfy  us.  Even  though 
there  had  been  no  frontier  at  all  within  Europe,  even 
though  Latin  genius  had  known  how  first  to  conquer 
and  then  to  absorb  the  Teuton,  one  may  still  doubt 
whether  the  Empire  could  have  endured.  Not  by  any 
effort  of  the  barbarian  but  by  its  own  weakness  the 
Empire  fell. 

We  see  the  Roman  populace  contemptuous  or  in- 
different to  arms,  pauperised  by  the  rich,  untaxed  and 
amused,  nay,  almost  housed  and  fed  at  the  public  ex- 
pense. We  see  the  State  always  eager  to  restrict  its 
conquests  and  its  influence,  anxious  rather  to  keep  out 
the  barbarian  than  to  bring  him  within  its  influence  and 
jurisdiction.  Little  by  little  we  see  the  Emperor  who 
had  been  in  a  very  real  sense  the  representative  of  a 
genuinely  popular  idea  become  little  more  than  a 
military  despot  and  an  adventurer.  We  see  a  curious 
decay  of  moral  fibre  of  which  all  these  things  are  the 
result.  And  when  Christianity  appeared  as  the  general 
religion  of  the  Empire  it  was  perhaps  already  too  late 
to  effect  its  salvation.  Yet  Christianity,  had  it  inspired 
the  State  earlier,  could  certainly  have  saved  it :  its  first 


CISALPINE  GAUL  21 

necessity  was  to  admit  no  frontiers,  to  go  into  all  the 
world,  and  especially  into  the  highways  and  hedges ;  it 
demanded  work  from  all,  but  made  all  men  equal 
and  free  ;  it  might  have  been  then,  as  it  was  later,  the 
very  soul  of  armies. 

As  it  was,  it  saved  what  could  be  saved.  It  was 
not  the  Emperor  but  Leo  who  met  Attila  and  "  as  by 
a  miracle  "  turned  him  back  in  the  midst  of  the  Cisalpine 
plain.  Already  Christianity  was  absorbing  the  bar- 
barian, nor  would  it  have  refused  the  almost  pathetic 
appeal  of  Alaric  to  be  of  service. 

All  this  might  have  befallen,  but  it  did  not.  The 
Empire  fell.  Here  in  Cisalpine  Gaul  the  only  problem 
we  may  attempt  to  deal  with,  and  that  but  superficially, 
is  that  which  I  have  already  spoken  of,  the  military 
problem.  The  military  problem  before  the  Empire 
had  always  been  that  of  its  two  vast  land  frontiers : — 
(i)  the  European ;  (2)  the  Asiatic.  They  were  so  ex- 
tensive and  naturally  so  insecure  that  it  was  difficult  to 
hold  them  at  all,  and  impossible  with  due  economy. 
Diocletian  attempted  to  solve  this  problem  by  dividing 
the  Empire,  but  the  division  he  made  was  rather  racial 
than  strategic,  for  under  it  the  two  parts  of  the  Empire 
met  on  the  Danube.  The  eastern  part,  by  force  of 
geography  was  inclined  to  an  Asiatic  point  of  view 
and  to  the  neglect  of  the  Danube;  the  western  was 
by  no  means  strong  enough  to  hold  that  tremendous 
line.  Why  ?  It  was  not  strong  enough  spiritually  or 
materially. 

Spiritually  it  was  lacking  in  patriotism.  The  army 
had  been  professional  since  the  time  of  Marius,  and 
tended  more  and  more  to  become  an  hereditary  caste, 
respecting  no  authority  save  that  of  the  general,  who,  in 
its  view,  was  always  a  possible  nominee  for  the  throne; 
moreover,  the  army  was  very  largely  barbarian. 

Materially  it  was  lacking  in  numbers.  The  use  of  arms 
was  unknown  to  the  mass  of  the  population.     Stilicho, 


22  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

in  fighting  Alaric,  preferred  to  enlist  slaves  rather  than 
the  Italian  freemen,  because  the  Italian  populace  was 
unused  to  obedience  and  discipline. 

There  is  a  third  reason,  which  is  of  more  than  military 
importance,  but  it  is  military  too.  Italy  had  become 
impoverished.  The  government  of  the  Empire  was 
enormously  expensive,  quite  apart  from  its  defence. 
The  methods  of  taxation  were  bad,  tended  to  be  futile, 
and  were  frequently  corrupt.  Many  of  the  munici- 
palities were  bankrupt  and  the  middle- class  capitalist 
was  taxed  out  of  existence  and  frequently  fell  into  a 
servile  condition.  In  consequence  the  population  was 
declining. 

We  must,  in  fact,  admit  that  civic  virtue,  health  and 
strength  had  long  been  failing.  We  do  not  admit 
that  the  moral  and  spiritual  condition  of  the  individual 
had  deteriorated.  The  Empire  was  Christian  when  it 
fell :  that  is  a  sufficient  answer  to  the  fantastic  nonsense 
that  has  been  written  on  this  subject,  which  would  be 
absurd  were  it  not  too  often  corrupt.  The  citizen  of 
the  Empire,  whatever  else  he  may  have  been,  was, 
by  whatever  standard  you  try  him,  a  better  man  than 
the  Goth,  the  Vandal  or  the  Hun.  The  barbarians 
were  barbarian  :  their  victory,  if  victory  it  can  be 
called,  does  not  proclaim  their  superiority.  War  is 
not  a  test  for  chastity,  frugality,  justice  and  honour 
any  more  than  it  is  a  test  for  right  and  wrong.  To 
think  so  is  itself  barbarian,  it  forces  us  back  to  the 
ordeal.  The  very  virtue  of  the  Roman  citizen,  his 
discontent  with  the  world  he  lived  in,  the  idealism 
of  the  saint  and  the  poet  is  forced  into  evidence  against 
the  Empire  when  it  is  in  fact  the  strongest  possible 
evidence  in  its  favour.  Society,  it  would  appear,  had 
become  enervated,  fascinated  by  the  past,  enslaved 
by  it  and  hypnotised  by  it.  Thus  the  greatest,  indeed 
the  only  service  the  barbarians  rendered,  was  a  service 
of    destruction.    They    created    nothing.    They    built 


CISALPINE  GAUL  23 

nothing,  they  contrived  nothing;  but  they  destroyed 
so  much  that  we  became  sure  that  there  would  be  no 
return,  we  reahsed  that  the  Church  had  saved  what 
could  be  saved  and  was  leading  us  to  a  new  and  a 
higher  form  of  that  unity  which  suddenly  in  a  little 
hundred  years  we  had  seen  so  ruthlessly  destroyed. 

The  attack  of  the  barbarians  under  which  that  old 
unity  disappeared  but  did  not  die,  of  which  Cisalpine 
Gaul  may  be  called  the  cockpit,  appears  to  us  in  history 
as  several  great  waves  of  invasion  and  one  mighty  raid. 
We  may  note  them  somewhat  as  follows  : — 

1.  The  Visigothic  Invasion  ;    led  by  Alaric  and 

MET   BY   StILICHO 

In  November,  401,  Alaric  entered  Venetia  ^  by  the 
Julian  Alps  and  passed  by  Aquileia  without  taking  it. 
Honorius  fled  from  Milan  to  Ravenna.  In  402,  on 
Easter  Day,  Stilicho  met  him  at  PoUentia  and  defeated 
him,  and,  following  his  retreat,  broke  him  again  at  Asta 
so  that  he  compelled  him  to  cross  the  Alps.  In  403 
Alaric  entered  Venetia  again.  Stilicho  met  him  by 
Verona  and  once  more  hurled  him  back. 

2.  The  Invasion  of  Radagaisus  ;   met  by  Stilicho 
In  405,  Radagaisus  invaded  Venetia  by  the  same 

passes,  passed  Aquileia,  crossed  the  Po  and  the  Apennines 
without  opposition.  Stilicho,  who  was  at  Pavia,  met 
him  at  Fiesole  and  cut  him  to  pieces.  The  remnant  of 
his  army  returned  through  Cisalpine  Gaul  and  fell  upon 
Gaul  proper.    Stilicho  was  murdered  in  408  at  Ravenna. 

3.  The  Second  Visigothic  Invasion  ;  led  by  Alaric 
In  408,  Alaric  again  invaded  Venetia  by  the  Julian 

Alps  and  succeeded  in  crossing  the  Po  and  the  Apennines. 
He  marched  to  Rome  and  pillaged  it,  to  die  in  410. 
Adolphus,  his  successor,  concluded  a  peace  with  Honorius 

^  At  the  same  time  Radagaisus  invaded  Rhaetia,  north  of  the 
Alps. 


Z4  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

and  marched  back  through  the  valley  of  the  Po  into 
Gaul. 

4.  The  Hunnish  Invasion  ;  met  by  Leo  the  Great 
In  452,  Attila,  defeated  in  the  previous  year  in  Gaul 

by  iEtius,  invaded  Venetia,  took  Aquileia  and  burnt  it 
with  Concordia  and  Altinum,  which  henceforth  dis- 
appear from  the  pages  of  history.  Padua,  too,  was 
ravaged  and  burnt,  for  she  resisted,  as  did  Modena, 
which  shared  her  fate.  Vicenza,  Verona,  Brescia, 
Bergamo,  Milan  and  Pavia  opened  their  gates  ;  they 
were  but  spoiled  and  their  inhabitants  exchanged  death 
for  slavery.  When  Italy  was  threatened,  Pope  Leo 
set  out  from  Rome  to  meet  Attila,  whom  he  found 
at  Pescheria  on  the  Mincio.  He  was  completely 
successful  in  his  attempt  to  save  Italy,  and  Attila 
consented  to  return  across  the  Danube  and  to  live 
henceforth  at  peace  with  the  Romans.  Thus  Italy, 
though  not  Cisalpine  Gaul,  was  saved.  Attila  died 
in  452  and  his  Empire  fell  to  pieces. 

The  Vandal  Raid  ;  met  by  Leo  the  Great 
In  455  the  Vandals  under  Gaiseric  made  a  raid  on 
Rome  from  Africa.  They  spoiled  though  they  did  not 
destroy  the  City,  thanks  again  to  the  intervention  of 
the  Pope.  They  departed  with  an  enormous  treasure 
to  that  fair  province  of  Africa  which  had  boasted  more 
than  three  hundred  cities  and  which  the  Vandals, 
entering  by  way  of  Gaul  and  Spain,  had  utterly  destroyed. 

5.  Augustine  had  died  in  Hippo  in  the  third  month  of 
the  Vandal  siege  (430). 

5.  The  Ostrogothic  Invasion. 

In  476,  Odoacer  had  headed  the  Herulian  revolt, 
and  stormed  and  burnt  Pavia,  deposed  the  Emperor  and 
put  Romulus  Augustulus  in  his  place,  only  to  depose 
him  in  the  same  year  in  Ravenna.  When  he  became 
too  powerful  the  Byzantine  Emperor  encouraged 
Theodoric,  king  of  the  Ostrogoths,  to  enter  Italy. 


CISALPINE  GAUL  25 

Theodoric  entered  Venetia  by  the  old  passes  that 
had  seen  Alaric  and  Attila  go  by,  in  489.  He  came 
at  the  head  of  a  nation  of  some  250,000  souls.  He 
met  Odoacer  on  the  Isonzo,  at  Verona,  on  the  Adige,  and 
later  on  the  Adda,  and  each  time  defeated  him.  He 
became  master  of  Italy.  His  reign,  with  his  capital 
at  Ravenna,  of  more  than  thirty  years  gave  Italy  a 
peace  and  prosperity  she  had  not  known  for  a  century. 

On  his  death  in  526  her  wounds  were  fast  healing. 
Indeed,  his  reign  prepared  the  way  for  Justinian's 
attempt  to  restore  the  Empire  and  the  unity  of  east 
and  west  by  the  genius  of  his  generals,  Belisarius  and 
N  arses. 

In  this  enormous  and  heroic  effort,  which  occupied 
the  years  535-553,  the  city  of  Rome  was  taken  and 
retaken  five  times  :  in  536  by  Belisarius,  in  546  by 
Totila,  in  547  by  Belisarius,  in  549  by  Totila,  and  in  552 
by  Narses.  In  these  wars  all  Italy  was  devastated. 
Cisalpine  Gaul  was  turned  into  a  wilderness  and  a 
morass.  Milan  was  totally  destroyed,  and  Rome, 
when  Totila  had  done  with  her  in  546,  remained  during 
the  space  of  forty  days  without  a  single  inhabitant. 

Nor  was  all  finished,  at  least  in  Cisalpine  Gaul,  when 
Narses  finally  secured  the  City  in  552.  In  the  following 
year  the  Franks  and  the  Alemanni  descended  the 
Rhaetian  Alps  into  the  plain  of  Milan,  broke  the 
Roman  army  at  Parma,  ravished  what  was  left  of 
the  cities  and  went  on  through  Italy  to  pillage ;  but 
between  Trent  and  Verona  God  smote  their  allies  and 
Narses  at  last  utterly  destroyed  them  in  Campania. 
Narses,  the  representative  of  the  Emperor  at  Byzantium, 
was  established  at  Ravenna  and  administered  above 
fifteen  years  the  entire  kingdom  of  Italy,  though  he 
did  not  assume  the  title  of  Exarch. 

But  it  was  not  for  long  that  Italy  was  to  enjoy  the 
peace  Narses  had  won  for  her.  In  565  Justinian 
died,  and  two  years  later  his  great  minister  had  fallen 


26  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

and,  as  it  is  said,  to  avenge  himself  had  invited  his  old 
allies  the  Lombards  into  Italy. 

6.  The  Lombard  Invasion 

The  sixth  and  last  barbarian  invasion,  that  of  the 
Lombards,  was  in  many  respects  the  most  terrible,  and 
was  certainly  the  most  enduring  in  its  results,  as  it  was 
the  least  resisted  of  all  the  barbarian  incursions.  In  par- 
ticular, its  effects  upon  Cisalpine  Gaul  were  fundamental  ; 
they  endure  to  this  day,  for  in  this  invasion  alone  we 
see  a  permanent  settlement  made  south  of  the  Alps, 
a  settlement  that  was  virtually  an  annexation  of  the 
whole  territory  of  the  plain  from  the  Ticino  to  the 
Mincio,  so  that  here  alone  in  all  Italy  the  name  of 
the  province  is  changed  and  henceforth  it  bears  the 
title  of  its  conquerors.  Cisalpine  Gaul  becomes  after 
the  Lombard  conquest  Lombardy. 

It  was  in  568  that  Alboin  and  his  Teutonic  multitudes 
crossed  the  Julian  Alps  and  descended  upon  the  plain 
and  everywhere  found  or  left  it  a  ruin,  incapable  of 
resistance.  The  lines  of  their  march  through  and 
conquest  of  Italy  may  most  easily  be  expressed  in  a 
table,  according  to  the  years  of  their  progress : — 

In  568  they  seized  all  Venetia  except  the  coast, 

Padua,    and    Monselice ;     they    took     Friuli, 

Vicenza  and  Verona. 
In  569  they  seized  all  Cisalpine  Gaul  and  Liguria 

except  Pavia,  Cremona,  Piacenza,  Mantua  and 

perhaps  some  smaller  places. 
In  570-572  they  seized  most  of  Tuscany  with  the 

duchies   of  Spoleto   and  Benevento.     In  the 

latter  year  Pavia  fell  after  three  years*  siege, 

as  well  as  Piacenza  and  Mantua. 
After  the  year  572  and  the  death  of  Alboin  their 
successes  were  less  uniform  and  a  certain  resistance  was 
forthcoming,  but  by  the  year  600  they  held  all  Italy 
with  the  exception  of  Rome  and  its  territory,  the 
Adriatic  coast,  Perugia,  Orvieto,  and  a  good  part  of 


CISALPINE  GAUL  27 

Campania,  including  Naples,  and  much  of  the  south, 
with  Sicily  and  the  islands.  In  Cisalpine  Gaul  they  were 
firmly  established,  and  all  that  remained  to  the  Imperial- 
ists was,  the  cities  of  Cremona,  Piacenza,  Mantua, 
Padua  and  perhaps  Modena,  Parma  and  Reggio,  with 
Ravenna  and  the  pentapolis,  namely,  Rimini,  Pesaro, 
Fano,  Sinigaglia  and  Ancona,  with  the  Venetian  and 
Ligurian  coast.  Indeed,  during  a  period  of  some  two 
hundred  years  Italy  was  unequally  divided  between 
the  kingdom  of  the  Lombards  and  the  exarchate  of 
Ravenna,  the  immediate  jurisdiction  of  which  was 
afterwards  consecrated  as  the  patrimony  of  S.  Peter, 
and  extended  over  the  whole  of  what  we  call  Romagna, 
including  the  marshes  of  Ferrara  and  Commachio. 
If  to  this  State  be  added  the  three  isolated  provinces  of 
Rome,  of  Venice  and  of  Naples,  which  in  one  way  or 
another  acknowledged  the  supremacy  of  the  exarch  at 
Ravenna,  we  shall  have  roughly  at  a  glance  the  political 
geography  of  Italy  from  the  time  of  the  establishment 
of  the  Lombards  in  Italy  till  the  coming  and  the  deliver- 
ance of  Charlemagne  in  774  and  the  restoration  of  the 
Empire  on  that  famous  Christmas  Day  in  the  year  800. 

Such  were  the  barbarian  invasions  that  destroyed 
Cisalpine  Gaul  and  brought  down  the  Empire.  If  we 
examine  the  results  of  these  invasions  at  all  closely, 
several  facts  emerge  from  their  enormous  chaos. 

In  the  first  place,  we  may  divide  the  invasions  into  two 
periods.  The  first  came  to  an  end  with  the  advent  of 
Theodoric,  his  establishment  of  peace,  the  revival  under 
his  rule  of  Roman  Law  and  municipal  life,  and,  in  conse- 
quence of  this,  the  reconquest  of  Italy  by  Belisarius  and 
N arses.  That  revival  not  only  effaced  whatever  was 
fundamentally  dangerous  in  the  previous  invasions,  but 
plucked  the  death  sting  from  the  far  more  terrible 
Lombard  domination  which  fills  the  second.  It 
permitted  Italy  to  breathe,  and  ensured  the  continuance 
in  spite  of  everything  of  Latin  civilisation.     We  see 


28  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

Cisalpine  Gaul  in  the  time  of  the  Lombards  a  mere 
wilderness,  empty  and  ruined,  surging  against  the 
cities  ;  but  many  of  these  cities  were  and  remained 
Latin,  and  when  the  exarchate  was  really  in  danger  of 
extinction  and  with  it  what  remained  of  the  memory  of 
Rome,  the  Pope  called  the  Franks  into  Italy,  Charle- 
magne crossed  the  Alps,  and  suddenly,  as  by  an  in- 
spiration or  a  miracle,  the  Empire  reappears. 

In  the  awful  anarchy  that  followed  Charlemagne's 
death,  the  necessary  part  of  that  Empire,  its  soul  and 
its  Latin  genius,  was  already  safe.  The  cities  and 
their  Latin  populace  were  in  secure  possession  of  it. 
The  Frankish  counts  replace  the  Lombard  dukes,  it 
is  true,  for  a  moment,  but  one  hundred  years  had  not 
passed  since  Charlemagne's  coronation  before  the 
Bishops,  the  captains  of  the  old  and  indestructible 
civilisation  of  Rome,  had  begun  to  acquire  temporal 
power  and  authority  in  the  cities  in  which  they  resided 
in  Cisalpine  Gaul.  In  892  the  Bishop  of  Modena  ruled 
that  city,  in  904  Bergamo  had  her  Bishop  for  captain, 
in  962  all  the  powers  that  had  been  the  count's  were 
acquired  by  the  Bishops  of  Parma  and  Lodi.  It  is  a 
revolution  that  we  see,  both  pojDular  and  Latin,  and  it 
ensured  the  domination  of  Latin  civilisation  and  culture, 
and  with  them  of  the  rise  or  return  of  the  commune. 

Out  of  the  ruins  of  those  five  hundred  years  between 
Alaric's  descent  in  401  and  the  rise  of  the  Bishops  to 
temporal  power  in  the  end  of  the  ninth  century,  it  is 
not  so  much  a  new  nation  that  we  see  emerge  as  the 
revival  of  the  old  Latin  civilisation.  Latin  Christianity 
was  about  to  re-establish  Europe. 


CHAPTER    II 
THE  LAKES 

MAGGIORE — LUGANO — COMO 

^J  OW  if  a  man  would  see  with  his  bodily  eyes,  and 
^  as  it  were  in  a  single  glance,  this  country  of 
Cisalpine  Gaul  whose  history  I  have  tried  to  set  forth 
in  the  previous  chapter,  let  him  enter  Italy  from  the 
town  of  Lugano,  and,  taking  boat  there  for  Capolago, 
and  climbing  thence  a-foot  or  by  funicular  the  mountain 
called  Generoso,  let  him  stay  a  day  or  two  in  the  woods 
of  Bellavista.  Nowhere  else  that  I  know  will  he  get 
all  at  once  so  firm  a  possession  of  the  lie  of  this  land. 
The  Monte  Generoso  stands  on  the  modern  frontier 
of  Switzerland  and  Italy,  and  the  view  from  Bellavista, 
just  an  inn  in  the  chestnut  woods,  where  the  wild  flowers 
most  abound,  and  still  more  from  the  summit,  is  not 
only  one  of  the  most  splendid  in  Europe,  but  one  of  the 
widest  and  most  interesting.  To  the  north  and  west 
stand  the  great  ramparts  of  the  Alps,  and  beyond,  that 
tremendous  huddle  of  upreared  peaks  we  call  the 
Bernese  Oberland  ;  to  the  south  lies  the  vast  Italian 
plain  as  far  as  Bologna  where  the  Apennines  close  its 
southern  border,  and  on  the  east  as  far  as  Verona 
where  the  Alps  shut  it  in.  At  one's  feet,  like  so  many 
jewels  cast  down  before  one,  lie  the  Lakes  of  Maggiore, 
Lugano,  Como,  and  the  rest,  among  the  foothills  of  the 
great  mountains.  To  see  and  to  consider  this  view 
is  to  understand  the  secret  and  the  history  not  of  Cis- 
alpine Gaul  alone^  but  in  a  very  real  sense  of  Italy  and 


30  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

of  Europe,  and  I  can  imagine  no  more  propitious  and 
delightful  seclusion  for  such  a  contemplation  of  the 
past  and  the  future  of  all  that  Europe  stands  for 
than  this  great  thirsty  mountain,  which  in  spite  of 
its  lack  of  water,  is  shrouded  so  wonderfully  in  woods 
and  scattered  with  wild  flowers.  And  then  when 
one  is  weary  of  thought,  there  lie  the  Italian  lakes 
for  our  recreation  and  delight :  and  yet  not  all  delight. 

I  do  not  know,  nor  shall  I  ever  understand  precisely 
what  it  is  that  lends  to  the  lakes  of  Lombardy  their 
unnatural  and  shining  beauty,  their  air  of  enchantment, 
of  sorcery.  They  are  a  vision  of  lovely  and  untroubled 
youth,  of  youth  that  is  without  conscience  and  without 
thought,  and  they  have  upon  the  soul  the  effect  of  a 
singular  and  half -remembered  music.  To  come  upon 
them  veiled  in  the  mist  of  dawn,  or  shining  in  the  glory 
of  the  morning,  to  watch  them  drowsily  in  the  drowsy 
noon,  to  see  them  fade  into  the  silver  and  blue  and 
gold  of  the  evening,  into  the  violet  of  the  still  night, 
is  to  experience  a  fullness  of  joy  that  only  music  is 
commonly  able  to  bring  us  :  and  yet  that  joy  is  far 
removed  from  happiness.  Something  forbidden,  a 
sense  of  spell  or  sorcery,  something  too  sweet,  some- 
thing too  brief,  that  terrifies  us  because  it  is  so 
lovely,  involves  this  paradise  in  disaster,  and  we 
are  as  full  of  fear  as  we  should  be  if  by  chance 
we  had  come  upon  Dionysus  himself  on  a  still  noon 
in  the  shadow  of  the  vines,  or  Aphrodite  in  the  long 
summer  dawn  on  the  fringe  of  the  Cyprian  sea.  Let 
it  be  granted  there  is  something  pagan  in  the  beauty 
of  these  places,  but  as  it  seems  to  me  there  is  also 
something  that  I  can  only  call  unnatural,  for  it  does 
not  chime  with  the  world  we  know.  And  yet  one  of 
the  first  of  our  thoughts  beside  these  shores  will  be  a 
thought  of  death  :  but  I  do  not  think  it  is  that  which 
makes  us  afraid  :  it  is  their  beauty. 

I  am  not  sure  that  this  curious  emotion  mixed  of  fear 


••.••»•      * 


SAN    MAMKTTE,    LAGO   LUGANO 


THE  LAKES  31 

and  an  exquisite  delight  does  not  presently  pass  away. 
Certainly  it  cannot  endure  beyond  a  night  at  Stresa  or 
Luino  or  Lugano  or  even  Como,  where  the  traveller 
will  be  involved  at  once  in  every  sort  of  touristry : 
but  if  it  cannot  endure,  it  may  be  recaptured  again 
in  such  lovely  and  quiet  places — places  that  I  have 
loved — as  this  of  Bellavista,  for  instance,  or  S.  Caterina 
del  Sasso  on  Lago  Maggiore,  or  Morcote  or  Oria, 
or,  better  still,  Castignola  on  Lago  di  Lugano,  or 
Gravedona  or  Corenno  on  Lago  di  Como,  or  any- 
where among  the  oleanders  of  Lago  d'  Orta.  Yet  it 
is  easy  to  grow  accustomed  and  weary  of  so  strange  a 
loveliness. 

Men  have  fruitlessly  discussed  for  ages  which  is  the 
most  beautiful  of  the  lakes  in  this  paradise  that  lies  at 
the  gates  of  Lombardy  among  the  mountains.  One 
might  as  well  consider  whether  Winchester  Cathedral 
were  more  beautiful  than  Salisbury,  or  Wells  than 
either.  For  no  one  is  like  another,  save  that  all  are  to 
be  enjoyed.  Lago  Maggiore  has  the  gift  of  the  wind,  of 
the  wideness  of  some  inland  sea  and  of  distance  ;  Lago 
Lugano  has  the  gift  of  shadow,  of  great  hills  and  of 
many  secret  places  ;  Lago  di  Como  has  the  joy  of 
richness  and  of  colour,  the  mystery  of  woods  and  the 
surprise  of  the  snow  and  of  far-away  great  mountains ; 
Lago  d'  Orta  has  flowers  and  silence.  But  of  all  the 
lakes,  I  love  best  the  Larian,  Lago  di  Como,  because 
it  is  wholly  Latin  and  there  I  can  tread  in  the  ways  that 
are  from  of  old,  I  can  behold  places  that  have  always 
been  sacred  and  remember  the  history  of  Europe. 
Historically,  indeed,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  Lago  di 
Como  is  the  most,  Lago  Maggiore  the  least  interesting 
of  the  four  greater  lakes  that  lie  within  our  view  from 
Monte  Generoso. 

Lago  Maggiore — Lacus  Verbanus  as  the  Romans 
called  it,  perhaps  with  a  thought  of  its  air  of  spring — is 
some  forty  miles  in  length  between  Locarno  on  the 


32  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

north  and  Arona  on  the  south.  It  receives  from  the 
Alps  the  rivers  Toce,  Maggia  and  Tresa,  and  there 
streams  out  from  it  southward  into  the  Lombard  plain 
the  great  Ticino,  after  the  Po  the  greatest  river  of 
Italy.  If  one  approaches  Maggiore  from  the  north  by 
the  Simplon,  he  will  descend  by  the  Toce  valley  from 
Domodossola  and  strike  the  lake  first  in  its  widest  part 
at  Baveno.  Baveno  and  Stresa,  which  we  may  see 
from  Generoso,  little  lake-side  villages  once,  hovering 
beside  the  water,  are  now  quite  spoiled  by  the  vast  and 
numerous  hotels  for  the  rich  which  have  overwhelmed 
them.  Baveno,  beyond  the  beauty  of  its  situation  and 
the  general  loveliness  of  the  lake,  to  which  it  is  perhaps 
the  best  key,  has  really  nothing  to  show  the  traveller  : 
indeed  it  has  not  even  a  villa  of  much  importance  unless 
it  be  the  hideous  Villa  Clara,  where  Queen  Victoria  once 
stayed.  Stresa,  at  least,  has  the  Villa  Pallavicino  above 
the  lake  and  the  Villa  Vignola,  belonging  to  the  Duchess 
of  Genoa,  mother  of  the  Queen  Dowager  of  Italy,  beside 
it.  Here  in  Stresa,  too,  Cavour  conceived  the  liberation 
of  Italy,  and,  a  thing  notable  for  us  at  any  rate,  became 
one  of  the  first  organisers  of  the  company  that  plies 
its  steamers,  chiefly  in  our  behalf,  up  and  down  and 
about  the  lake.  Nor  is  Stresa  quite  without  something 
to  offer  us  in  the  way  of  an  excursion.  To  climb  Monte 
Motterone  is  both  easy  and  delightful,  and  the  view  to 
be  had  from  the  top,  though  it  may  not  compare  with 
that  from  Monte  Generoso,  is  sufficiently  satisfying  to 
make  the  climb  necessary.  For,  thence  we  may  see 
the  Alps  from  the  Col  di  Tenda  to  Monte  Viso,  to  Monte 
Rosa  and  the  Or  tier  and  the  Jungfrau,  the  whole 
of  Lago  Maggiore,  Lago  d'  Orta  and  the  smaller 
lakes  such  as  Monate  and  Varese,  while  south  and 
west  we  look  over  the  vast  plain  of  Lombardy  with  the 
Sesia  and  the  Ticino  gliding  southward  across  it  towards 
Milan. 

But,  after  all,  Stresa  is  chiefly  famous  by  reason 


LAGO  MAGGIORE  33 

of  the  view  she  offers  us  of  the  Borromean  Islands,  Isola 
Bella,  Isola  dei  Pescatori  and  Isola  Madre,  which  lie 
before  her  in  the  breadth  of  the  lake  not  so  very  far 
from  the  shore.  I  suppose  there  is  nothing  else  in 
the  world  quite  like  this  vision  that  Stresa  gives  us,  not 
of  fairyland  but  of  the  garden  of  the  Hesperides.  In 
the  heat  of  the  day  they  seem  far  off,  wrapt  in  eternal 
summer  and  the  drowsy  slumbers  of  noon,  and  only  the 
sound  of  their  bells  comes  to  you  over  the  shining 
waters;  but  at  dawn  or  at  evening  they  come  near, 
they  are  quite  close,  you  may  see  their  terraced  gardens, 
their  trees  and  flowers,  their  magic  villas,  their  church 
towers,  and  in  the  quietness  the  voices  of  their  fortunate 
inhabitants  come  to  you  over  the  waters  as  out  of  a 
strange  and  lovely  dream. 

Yes,  they  are  just  a  vision  of  what  men  have  always 
meant  by  the  Isles  of  the  Blest,  the  Fortunate  Islands 
which  no  one,  till  he  happened  here,  ever  found.  And 
like  those  islands  of  happiness  which  so  many  have 
thought  to  see,  these  too  may  not  be  approached.  If 
on  some  morning,  sure  of  your  joy,  you  set  out  in  a  little 
boat,  for  no  one  I  suppose  would  hope  to  come  to 
Paradise  in  a  steamer,  they  will  vanish  away,  they  will 
utterly  change,  and  what  was  Isola  Bella  will  have 
become,  when  you  reach  it,  a  mere  bulwark  of  brick 
and  cement,  the  gardens  an  artificial  ugliness,  the 
villa  a  baroque  palace  of  the  seventeenth  century,  the 
whole  in  the  worst  and  the  crudest  taste  ;  Isola  dei 
Pescatori  will  seem  to  you  just  an  Italian  fishing  village, 
neither  more  nor  less ;  Isola  Madre — well,  that  is  the 
farthest  and  the  best.  Indeed,  Isola  Madre  has  much 
charm,  and  if  any  traveller  be  so  rash  as  to  wish  for  a 
closer  acquaintance  with  these  islands  in  the  lazy  do- 
nothing  days  he  must  spend  at  Stresa,  it  is  to  Isola 
Madre  he  should  go.  Here,  it  is  true,  are  gardens  in 
terraces  as  at  Isola  Bella,  but  something  of  Nature  has 
been  left :  there  are  birds  here,  and  the  little  park  and 
3 


34  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

wood  where  the  camellias  grow  so  plentifully  are  quiet 
and  delightful. 

Isola  Madre,  like  Isola  Bella,  belongs  to  the  Borromeo 
family,  one  of  the  best  in  Lombardy,  whose  most  famous 
son  was  that  S.  Carlo  bom  at  Arona  in  1537 — it  is,  I 
think,  the  one  thing  Arona  can  boast  of — and  known 
to  us  all  as  Cardinal  Archbishop  of  Milan,  which  tre- 
mendous office  was  given  him  in  his  twenty-third  year. 
For  a  further  twenty-three  years  he  lived  like  a  saint, 
dispensing  his  great  wealth,  for  he  had  inherited  the 
Borromeo  estates,  in  charity,  sleeping  himself  upon 
straw  and  eating  bread  and  water.  Every  village,  every 
shepherd's  hut  in  his  diocese  knew  him  well.  And  his 
rule  of  the  clergy  and  religious  of  his  diocese  was  such 
that  many  became  his  enemies,  and  one,  a  friar,  at- 
tempted to  kill  him  ;  but  the  bullet  glanced  off  the 
gold  embroidery  of  his  cope,  and  he  was  alive  to  minister 
to  his  people  with  wonderful  personal  devotion  in  the 
great  plague  of  1575.  Pope  Paul  v.  canonised  him  in 
1610. 

The  Castle  of  Anghera,  which  stands  finely  over  the 
lake  opposite  Arona,  is  another  possession  of  the 
Borromei.  It  was  of  old  of  very  considerable  importance, 
holding  all  the  road  to  Milan,  and  the  Visconti  took  a 
title.  Count  of  Anghera,  from  it. 

But  the  wise  traveller  will  spend  but  little  time  in 
this  southern  part  of  the  lake,  which  as  a  whole  is,  as  I 
have  said,  best  explored  from  Baveno.  Leaving  Baveno 
on  his  way  northward,  the  first  town  he  will  come  upon 
will  be  Pallanza,  where  again  there  is  nothing  to  see, 
nothing  that  is  but  its  own  natural  loveliness,  and  that 
can  be  as  well  seen  from  the  boat  as  from  the  shore. 
Nevertheless  one  should  land,  if  only  to  walk  out  on  to 
the  promontory  north  of  the  town  where  of  old  a  temple 
to  Venus  stood,  and  where  now  the  church  of  S.  Remigio 
stands.  It  is  indeed  a  pretty  walk  all  the  way  from 
Pallanza  to  Intra,  where  one  may  again  take  the  boat, 


LAGO  MAGGIORE  35 

unless  indeed  one  is  bent  on  exploring  the  picturesque 
Val  Introgno  which  here  leads  up  into  the  hills. 

From  Intra  the  boat  crosses  the  lake  to  Laveno,  and 
Laveno  is  to  my  mind  quite  the  most  interesting  place 
on  Lago  Maggiore  —  not  for  itself  alone,  but  for  the 
country  it  puts  you  in  possession  of.  There  is  nothing 
to  see  in  the  town  ;  but  the  great  wooded  hill  to  the 
north,  under  which  Laveno  hides,  and  which  makes  so 
beautiful  a  part  of  the  view  from  Stresa,  is  the  Sasso  di 
Ferro,  and  thence  you  may  have  a  finer  view  than  from 
Monte  Motterone.  And  there,  high  above  the  lake,  is 
the  little  convent  of  S.  Caterina  del  Sasso,  which  I  love 
better  than  any  other  in  all  Lombardy,  because  it  chimes 
in  so  lovely  a  fashion  with  the  rocks  and  the  lake  here, 
and  its  loggia  and  tower  are  so  fine  from  the  water. 
I  could  never  learn  how  it  came  to  be  S.  Catherine's, 
or  to  which  of  the  many  S.  Catherines  it  belongs.  It 
seems  that  it  should  be  the  Madonna's,  for  the  Madonna 
performed  a  miracle  there  of  the  most  strange  sort. 
There  is  within  the  church  a  little  chapel,  over  whose 
altar  hangs  suspended,  as  it  seems  in  the  air,  a  vast 
boulder,  which,  crashing  down  from  the  precipice. 
Madonna  arrested  there  w^here  you  see  it.  The  latest 
English  guide  to  these  lakes  tries  to  explain  this  stupen- 
dous fact  by  natural  causes ;  but  who  would  be  content 
with  such  when  the  supernatural  are  so  obvious  ?  This, 
surely,  is  one  of  the  inexplicable  mysteries  of  the  modern 
mind. 

Laveno  holds  the  road  to  much  fine  country,  and 
many  beautiful  things  which  we,  who  have  entered 
by  the  Lugano  gate,  shall  find  later  on  our  road 
from  Como  to  Milan.  Nevertheless,  Varese  and  its 
lake,  as  well  as  Castiglione  d'  Olona,  may  easily  be  seen 
from  here,  and  should  not  be  omitted  by  any  traveller 
who  is  exploring  the  lakes  and  not  going  on  to  Milan. 
From  Laveno  the  traveller  will  go  on  by  boat  to  Luino, 
which  is  chiefly  interesting,  in  its  modern  life,  for  its 


36  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

silk  factories  and  for  the  fact  that  here  one  leaves  Lago 
Maggiore  for  Lago  Lugano.  It  was,  however,  the  birth- 
place of  Bernardino  Luini,  Leonardo's  pupil,  and  there 
are  still  some  grand  frescoes  of  his  in  the  parish  church. 
Luini,  however,  pretty  and  sentimental  as  his  work 
always  is,  is  not  to  be  judged  by  his  paintings  here.  To 
do  him  justice  it  is  necessary  to  go  to  Saronno  on  the  road 
to  Milan. 

Opposite  Luino,  on  the  farther  shore  of  the  lake, 
stand  two  ruined  castles,  their  feet  in  the  water :  they 
doubtless  once  threatened  somebody,  but  who  it  was 
I  could  never  learn.  In  the  fifteenth  century  they  served 
as  a  retreat  for  a  family  of  brigands  named  Mazzardi. 

From  Cannobio,  the  next  place  of  importance,  on  the 
northern  shore,  the  Val  Cannobina  leads  into  the  wooded 
foothills  of  the  mountains.  In  Cannobio  itself,  near  the 
landing-stage,  is  a  fine  early  Renaissance  church,  the 
Santuario  della  Santissima  Pieta,  and  over  the  high  altar 
we  find  a  good  picture  by  Gaudenzio  Ferrari  of  Christ 
bearing  His  Cross,  the  only  picture  perhaps  on  the  lake ; 
but  here  especially  Nature  makes  up  for  the  lack  of  art. 

Locarno,  at  the  head  of  Lago  Maggiore,  but  by  no  means 
the  most  considerable  place  upon  it,  is  without  interest, 
save  that  from  it  open  the  rich  pastures  of  the  Val 
Maggia  and  all  the  loveliness  of  Val  Orsenona,  Val 
Bavena  and  Val  Anzarca.  Behind  Locarno,  too,  on  a 
great  precipitous  rock,  stands  the  convent  of  La  Madonna 
del  Sasso  which  was  founded  in  1487.  It  is  a  picturesque 
place,  and  though  to  my  mind  it  cannot  rival  S.  Caterina, 
it  is  well  worth  a  visit. 

I  said  that  Locarno  was  without  interest,  meaning 
that  it  had  little  to  offer  the  traveller.  To  the  curious 
student  of  history,  however,  it  is  known  as  one  of  the 
most  southern  places,  for  it  is  not  Italian,  to  side  with 
Luther  in  the  great  political  and  moral  revolution  of 
the  sixteenth  century  which  we  call  the  Reformation, 
why,  I  could  never  understand,  for  it  formed  nothing, 


LAGO  LUGANO  37 

but  a  confusion,  though,  if  you  will,  it  reformed  Europe 
back  into  its  original  chaos.  The  people  of  Locarno, 
however,  were  very  eager  in  this  business,  and  rather 
than  remain  Catholics,  some  two  hundred  families  of 
them  marched  through  the  Alps  in  the  early  spring  to 
the  Grisons.  A  romantic  tale  is  told,  and  I  think  truly, 
of  the  Lady  of  Locarno  at  this  time,  Barbara  di  Montalto, 
whom  the  minions  of  the  papal  nuncio  came  to  seize, 
because  she  had  scoffed  at  the  Mass ;  "  but  she  escaped 
by  a  secret  door  leading  to  the  lake,  while  her  pursuers 
were  in  the  house." 

Now  the  traveller  who,  intent  on  exploring  Lombardy, 
has  set  out  first  to  see  the  Italian  lakes,  if  he  shall  have 
crossed  the  Alps  by  the  Simplon  and  have  come  first  to 
Lago  Maggiore,  will  presently  leave  it  for  Lago  Lugano 
by  the  gate  of  Luino.  Luino  itself  is  just  in  Italy,  but 
such  a  traveller  on  his  way  to  Porto  Tresa  on  the  Lake 
of  Lugano  will  soon  cross  the  frontier,  and  until  he 
leaves  that  lake  at  its  northern  extremity — and  in  our 
company — for  Menaggio  on  Lago  di  Como,  he  will  be 
in  Switzerland,  in  those  Italian  cantons  of  Switzerland 
that  is,  which  are  in  their  scenery  so  much  more  Italian 
than  Swiss,  but  in  their  population,  so  disagreeably, 
rather  Swiss  than  Italian.  No  one,  however  he  enter 
Lombardy,  if  he  is  bent  upon  exploring  the  Italian 
plain,  should  fail  to  climb  Monte  Generoso,  the  only 
look  out  in  all  this  country  which  gives  him  nearly  the 
whole  of  it.  It  is  true  that  to  do  this  he  must  enter 
Switzerland ;  but  he  must  put  up  with  that.  Like 
most  other  travellers  I  find  the  German  Switzer  un- 
sympathetic, to  put  it  gently,  and  I  am  willing  every 
time  I  pass  through  Switzerland  to  agree  with  Lord 
Byron,  who  called  it  "  a  swinish  country  of  brutes." 
It  is  true,  too,  that  all  this  part  of  the  mountains, 
naturally  so  Italian,  suffers  from  these  people,  and  the 
frontier  line  is  not  a  true  one  from  a  racial  point  of  view. 


38  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

Maggiore  is  little,  if  any,  better  than  Lugano  in  this 
respect ;  the  people  are  the  same,  and  it  is  not  till  we  are 
well  on  our  way  to  Como  that  we  are  finally  rid  of 
them.  However,  no  one  is  to  be  prevented  from  going 
to  the  Italian  lakes,  I  hope,  because  they  happen  to  be 
peopled  by  the  most  ungracious  and  barbarous  of  the 
people  of  Europe.  Nor  should  anyone  on  this  account 
fail  to  visit  Monte  Generoso.  It  is  true  that  in  the 
summer  there,  the  mountain  is  swarming  with  Germans, 
and  the  Milanese  of  the  middle  class  abound ;  never- 
theless in  May,  or,  better,  in  June,  Monte  Generoso  is 
quiet  and  lonely  enough  to  please  us  all.  And  then  no 
place  offers  the  same  opportunity  of  surveying  at  a 
glance  the  Lombard  plain,  with  its  cities,  its  pastures, 
its  corn  fields  and  winding  rivers,  its  straight,  interminable 
Roman  roads. 

Monte  Generoso,  too,  should  be  visited  for  its  own 
sake.  For  it  possesses  all  kinds  of  scenery,  a  country  of 
trees  and  hedges  and  meadows  at  its  base,  forests  of 
chestnut  trees,  and  higher,  of  wild  laburnums  laden 
and  weighted  down  with  gold,  and  about  the  summit 
the  bare  and  barren  rock  of  the  mountains.  And  every- 
where there  are  flowers,  deep  beds  of  lilies  of  the  valley, 
columbines  and  white  asphodels,  golden  hawkweeds 
and  the  too  sweet  narcissus,  a  dazzling  brightness  beyond 
which  crimson  peonies  gleam  amid  the  rocks,  while 
in  the  higher  places  gentians  and  ranunculuses  blow 
in  the  thin  and  eager  air.  Indeed,  in  the  early  heat 
there  is  no  more  pleasant  place  in  Europe  than  this  dry 
and  lonely  mountain  which  thrusts  itself  beyond  its 
fellows  so  steeply  into  the  Lombard  plain. 

On  descending  from  it  on  our  way  into  Italy  it  is 
easy  to  see  what  there  is  to  see  in  the  little  villages  of  the 
Lake  of  Lugano.  The  best,  the  most  charming  of  these 
I  have  already  named  :  they  are  to  be  loved.  But  in 
Lugano  itself  there  is  but  one  famous  thing,  and  that  is 
of   secondary  importance,   I  mean  the  fresco  of  the 


LAGO  DI  COMO  39 

Crucifixion  by  Luini  in  the  fine  early  Renaissance  church, 
conventual  too,  of  S.  Maria  degli  Angeli  by  the  lake-side. 
Wonderfully  Italian  as  Lugano  seems,  it  is  almost 
wholly  devoid  of  the  Italian  charm ;  its  arcaded  ways 
and  byways  no  longer  picturesque,  spoiled  by  the 
Switzer  and  the  stranger,  do  not  attract  us,  and  even 
its  churches  seem  to  lack  some  blessedness.  Only  the 
idle  and  the  rich  will  linger  there.  As  for  us,  we  are  for 
Italy ;  let  us  be  up  and  away. 

So  we  depart,  leaving  Monte  Salvatore,  famous  in 
Germany,  unvisited  and  without  a  word ;  for  if  by  chance 
we  must  spend  our  time  on  the  Lake  of  Lugano,  it  is 
not  there  we  shall  be  found,  but  perhaps  in  the  byways 
or  in  a  little  boat  under  the  olives  of  Morcote  or  the  rosy 
church  tower  and  cypresses  of  Oria,  or  in  the  warm 
sunshine  under  Casta gnola,  little  places  which  possess 
nothing  but  an  indefinable  charm  and  Latin  loveliness. 

So  shall  we  come  quickly,  or  lingering  by  the  way,  to 
Porlezza,  and  taking  the  little  train  there,  in  a  half -hour 
(or,  better,  by  road)  find  ourselves  by  the  shore  of  the 
Larian  lake  at  Menaggio.  Thence,  if  we  are  wise,  we 
shall  immediately  take  ship  for  Bellaggio  or  that  paradise 
which  faces  it — certainly  of  old  a  very  Eden — Cadenabbia, 
upon  the  western  shore. 

The  Lake  of  Como,  always  more  important  than  those 
of  Maggiore  and  Lugano,  for  it  commands  two  great 
passes  into  the  Alps,  the  Spliigen  and  the  Bragaglia, 
consists,  as  it  were,  of  three  parts,  for  it  is  shaped  like  a 
three-pointed  star,  or,  as  the  local  rhymes  have  it,  like  a 
man's  body  with  his  two  legs.  These  parts  all  meet  at 
Bellaggio,  which  is  thus  by  far  the  most  convenient  spot 
from  which  to  explore  and  enjoy  the  whole  lake.  To 
the  south  lies  the  Lake  of  Como  proper  between  Bellaggio 
and  the  city  of  Como  ;  to  the  north  lies  that  great  upper 
part  of  it  between  Bellaggio  and  Colico,  which  has  no 
distinct  name ;  to  the  east,  between  Bellaggio  and  Lecco, 
lies  the  Lake  of  Lecco. 


40  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

The  Lake  of  Como,  in  that  upper  or  northern  part  of 
it,  just  beyond  Colico  receives,  as  do  the  lakes  of  Maggiore 
and  Geneva,  a  great  river,  the  Adda,  into  its  bosom,  a 
river  which  leaves  it  not  at  Como,  for  there  the  lake 
has  no  opening  at  all,  but  at  Lecco,  whence  it  flows 
into  the  Lombard  plain  to  be  one  of  its  great  barriers 
and  nourishers. 

Nearly  forty  miles  long  from  Como  to  Colico,  the  Lake 
of  Como  is  by  far  the  most  interesting  historically  of 
those  three  lakes  which  lie  here  in  this  corner  under 
the  great  mountains.  That  part  of  it  which  lies  between 
Bellaggio  and  Como  has  indeed,  ever  since  the  Empire 
began  to  civilise  these  parts  of  Upper  Italy,  been  crowded 
with  sumptuous  villas,  the  most  famous  of  which  were 
those  of  the  two  Plinys.  The  northern  arm  between 
Bellaggio  and  Colico  is  chiefly  interesting  because  of  the 
part  it  played  in  the  fifteenth  century  ;  but  the  old 
Roman  route  lay  down  it,  and  one  landed — Stilicho 
did,  for  instance,  according  to  Claudian — at  Colico  and 
at  Como,  not  at  Lecco,  in  going  from  or  to  Milan. 

The  chief  classical  interest  of  the  Larian  lake,  however, 
is  gathered  round  the  Plinys,  who  were  born  at  Como, 
and  had  many  villas  about  the  lake,  one  of  the  chief  oi 
which  stood,  as  is  thought,  where  the  Villa  SerbeUoni 
stands  to-day,  on  the  towering  promontory  of  Bellaggio. 

"  You  tell  me  you  are  building :  "  the  younger  Pliny 
writes  happily.^  "  That  is  well,  and  gives  me  the 
countenance  I  wanted,  for  I  shall  be  able  to  justify  my 
building  now  that  we  are  both  in  the  same  boat. 
Moreover,  there  is  this,  too,  that  while  you  are  building 
by  the  sea,  I  am  building  by  the  Larian  Lake.  I  have 
several  villas  on  its  shores,  but  there  are  two  that  are 
especially  my  favourites,  and  at  the  same  time  exercise 
my  mind  a  good  deal.  One  is  situated  on  a  rocky  spur 
and  overlooks  the  lake,  like  the  villas  at  Baiae ;  the  other 
is  on  the  margin  of  the  lake,  and  also  after  the  Baiae 

^  Ep.  vii.  II. 


LAGO  DI  COMO  41 

fashion.  I  like  to  call  the  one  *  Tragedy,'  the  other 
*  Comedy '  because  the  former  is  supported  as  it  were 
by  the  buskin,  and  the  latter  by  the  sock.  Each  has 
its  own  charm,  and  each  seems  the  more  delightful  in 
turn  by  reason  of  its  difference  from  the  other.  The 
one  has  a  close,  the  other  a  wide  view  of  the  lake  ;  the 
one  commands  a  single  gently  curving  bay,  the  other, 
perched  on  its  lofty  ridge,  lies  between  two  bays ;  in  the 
one  there  is  a  long  level  walk  stretching  along  the  shore, 
in  the  other  a  spacious  terrace  with  an  easy  slope  ; 
the  one  never  feels  the  waves,  the  other  breaks  their 
progress  ;  from  the  one  you  can  look  upon  the  people 
fishing,  from  the  other  you  can  fish  yourself,  even  from 
your  bedroom,  and  almost  from  your  bed,  as  though 
you  were  in  a  small  boat.  And  for  these  charming 
reasons  I  have  built  on  to  these  villas  certain  additions 
which  they  required.  ..." 

Thus  far  Pliny.  As  I  have  said,  his  villa  "Tragedy  " 
is  generally  supposed  to  have  stood  where  now  on  the 
summit  of  the  promontory  the  Villa  Serbelloni  stands. 
His  villa  "  Comedy  "  was  probably  near  Lenno,  while 
others  of  his  houses  stood  near  Torno  and  Como. 
Bellaggio,  with  its  far  views  and  command  of  the  three 
great  arms  of  Lake  Como,  is  a  charming  and  a  beautiful 
place,  but  beyond  the  Villa  Serbelloni,  its  gardens  and 
terraces,  there  is  not  much  to  be  seen.  Its  position, 
however,  makes  it  not  only  the  most  delightful  but  the 
most  convenient  spot  from  which  to  explore  the  lake. 

Perhaps,  for  the  sake  of  its  history,  that  part  of  Lake 
Como  between  Como  and  Bellaggio  should  be  first 
enjoyed,  but  as  that  is  the  best  way  to  Milan,  we  shall 
leave  it  till  the  last,  and  begin  our  pleasure  with  that 
part  of  the  lake  which  lies  between  Bellaggio  and  Colico. 

This  arm  is  by  far  the  largest  of  the  three,  though  not 
much  longer  than  the  others.  Besides  the  scenery  it 
offers  us — and  there  are  no  lovelier  spots  in  the  lakes  of 
all  Italy,  than  Gravedona  with  its  Baptistery,  its  basilica 


42  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

of  S.  Vincenzo,  its  cross  of  silver  inlaid  with  gems,  its 
chalice  and  precious  ornaments  of  the  fifteenth  century ; 
Corenno,  with  its  ruined  castle  and  memory  of  Pliny ; 
Fiona,  with  its  cloisters  and  Varenna  with  its  rosy  face, 
its  graceful  towers  and  stately  cypresses — this  northern 
area  is  chiefly  interesting  for  the  strange  part  that  a 
certain  adventurer  named  Medici  (who,  in  the  greatness 
of  his  success  claimed  kinship,  without  a  shadow  of 
reason,  with  the  great  Florentine  family)  played  here  in 
the  sixteenth  century. 

In  the  first  years  of  that  century,  the  Valtellina,  through 
which  the  Adda  flows  into  Lake  Como  at  its  northern 
end,  together  with  Bormio  and  Chiavenna  had  passed 
to  the  Grisons,  and  the  Swiss  Cantons  had  possessed 
themselves  at  the  same  time  of  Lugano  and  Bellinzona ; 
thus  the  barbarous  mountaineers  had  spoiled  the  Duchy 
of  Milan  of  a  rich  province  which  no  lord  of  Milan, 
whether  a  Sforza  or  a  French  general  or  a  Spanish 
viceroy,  could  long  tolerate.  It  was  in  this  state  of 
affairs  that  Gian  Giacomo  Medici,  II  Medeghino,  as  he 
was  and  is  still  called,  appeared.  He  was  a  Lombard, 
the  son  of  a  Lombard  born  in  Milan  in  1498.  His 
father  was  a  man  of  humble  birth,  his  mother,  however, 
was  Cecilia  Serbelloni ;  they  managed  to  breed  some 
remarkable  children.  II  Medeghino  began  as  a  mur- 
derer, a  brigand,  an  outlaw  and  highwayman,  he 
ended  as  Marquis  of  Musso,  Count  of  Lecco,  Viceroy  of 
Bohemia,  and  Marquis  of  Marignano.  He  was  the 
eldest.  His  brother,  Giovanni  Angelo,  became  Pope 
Pius  IV.  His  sister  Cecilia  married  a  Borromeo,  and 
became  the  mother  of  a  Saint,  S.  Carlo  Borromeo. 
I  doubt  if  there  is  in  all  history  such  an  achievement 
as  that  in  a  single  generation  of  a  single  family. 

II  Medeghino  began  as  the  merest  adventurer  :  his 
first  act  was,  as  I  said,  the  assassination  of  a  man  he  hated, 
this  at  the  age  of  sixteen.  This  recommended  him  to 
the  generals  of  the  Sforza  troops,  and  in  that  cause  he 


LAGO  DI  COMO  43 

too  had  success,  for  he  helped  to  put  Francesco  Sforza  11. 
on  the  Ducal  throne  of  Milan.  Perhaps  in  these  fights 
he  had  come  to  know  the  Lake  of  Como,  and  the  unsettled 
state  of  the  Valtellina.  At  any  rate  he  knew  the  Castle 
of  Musso  there,  on  the  headland  south  of  Gravedona, 
which,  besides  the  citadel  on  the  precipitous  height  of 
the  promontory,  was  furnished  with  a  square  fort  having 
bastions  and  cannon,  strong  towers,  and  an  easy  and  safe 
access  to  the  lake.  He  applied  to  Sforza  for  this  place  as 
a  reward  for  old  service.  Sforza  granted  it  to  him  on 
condition  that  he  succeeded  in  murdering  Astorre  Vis- 
conti,  Sforza's  rival.  This  II  Medeghino  achieved.  Then 
Sforza  sent  him  with  open  letters  to  the  Castellano  of 
Musso  to  possess  the  fortress,  but  with  sealed  letters  in 
which  the  said  Castellano  was  ordered  to  cut  II  Mede- 
ghino's  throat.  The  young  man  opened  these  letters, 
laid  his  plans,  and  possessed  himself  of  the  Castle  of 
Musso.  Sforza  the  viper  made  no  sign  ;  he  was  beaten 
at  his  own  game.  Thus  began  a  life  of  highway  robbery 
in  which  II  Medeghino  was  almost  uniformly  successful. 
First  he  rendered  Musso  impregnable,  then  to  keep 
Sforza  quiet  he  made  war  on  the  Grisons.  Then  with 
a  fleet  of  boats  he  made  himself  master  of  the  lake 
from  Colico  to  Lecco.  Sforza,  knowing  his  man,  and 
fearing  the  advance  of  Francis  i.  of  France,  the  pay- 
master of  the  Grisons,  made  him  perpetual  governor  of 
the  Lake  of  Como,  and  of  as  much  else  as  he  could  take 
from  the  mountaineers.  II  Medeghino  at  once  took 
Chiavenna,  the  key  to  the  great  passes  ;  and  may  thus  be 
said  to  have  helped  to  defeat  Francis  at  the  battle  of 
Pa  via. 

But  a  change  was  coming  and  II  Medeghino  saw  it. 
Sforza  was  falling  between  France  and  Spain,  In  the 
ruin  that  followed  he  played  his  own  hand  and  came 
out  of  it  lord  of  the  lakes  Como  and  Lugano  and  of 
the  town  of  Lecco  and  master  of  all  the  valleys.  His 
navy  blockaded  Como,  then  held  by  the  Spaniards, 


44  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

and  was  able  to  come  to  terms  with  them  and  to  obtain 
from  Charles  v.  his  investment  of  the  Castle  of  Musso, 
the  town  of  Lecco  and  the  greater  part  of  the  Lake  ; 
with  the  titles  of  Marquis  of  Musso  and  Count  of  Lecco. 
He  even  coined  money  with  his  own  name  and  device 
upon  it.  Nor  did  he  cease  to  prosper.  His  only 
check  in  the  following  years  was  in  a  battle  off  Menaggio 
when  Sforza,  now  back  in  Milan,  worsted  him.  But  he 
recovered  himself,  and,  if  he  had  ever  held  Como,  might 
have  made  his  own  terms  without  question.  As  it 
was,  he  was  able  at  the  last  to  retire  with  all  the  honours. 
He  got  35,000  gold  crowns  for  Musso  and  the  marquisate 
of  Marignano.  He  even  took  service  with  Spain,  became 
a  field-marshal  in  that  army,  was  employed  in  the 
Netherlands,  and,  later,  entered  Bohemia  as  a  Spanish 
viceroy.  His  last  act  was  to  distinguish  himself  in 
the  Senese,  when  Charles  v.  was  busy  creating  the  Grand 
Duchy  of  Tuscany.  It  was  then  he  claimed  to  be 
de'  Medici,  and  as  he  was  a  good  friend  and  a  bad 
enemy,  and,  moreover,  having  a  brother  who  was 
Pope,  his  claim  was  allowed.  And  when  he  died,  he 
was  buried  in  the  Duomo  of  Milan  and  Leone  Leoni  of 
Menaggio  built  for  his  corse  his  masterpiece,  the  magnifi- 
cent tomb  we  see  to-daj^. 

Lecco,  of  which  II  Medeghino  made  himself  lord, 
has  given  its  name  to  the  south-eastern  arm  of  the  Lake 
of  Como.  This  part  of  the  lake  is  rougher  and  more 
lonely  than  the  other  two,  but  not,  I  think,  less  lovely. 
What  is  there  better  in  all  this  district  than  Villa 
Giulia,  than  Limonta  or  Roman  Liema  ?  Yet  what 
history  there  is  gathers  round  Lecco  itself.  Etruscan, 
Celtic  and  Roman,  Lecco  is  to-day  a  characteristic 
Lombard  town,  full  of  business  and  energy  after  the 
sufferings  which,  being  in  Lombardy,  it  has  had  to 
bear.  We  are  told  that  S.  Mona  of  Milan  converted 
the  Lecchesi  to  Christianity  in  the  third  century  and 
we  may  be  sure  that  in  the  Dark  Ages  it  sank  back 


LAGO  DI  COMO  45 

into  barbarism,  for  it  was  on  the  frontier  of  the  Rhaetians 
and  the  Alpini,  half-tamed  peoples  who  had  no  root 
in  Latin  civilisation.  But  in  the  great  reconstruction 
it  had  its  part,  and  in  1161  Barbarossa,  when  he  had 
destroyed  Milan  and  divided  Lombardy  into  six 
provinces,  made  Lecco  the  head  of  one  of  them  and  it 
received  an  imperial  viceroy.  Nothing  of  all  this  time 
remains  to  the  busy  little  town  to-day ;  its  earliest 
visible  memories  being  of  the  fourteenth  century, 
when  Visconti  was  ruling  in  Milan  and  Azzone 
Visconti  took  and  fortified  the  town,  surrounding  it 
with  a  vast  towered  wall  and  building  the  great  bridge 
we  still  see  over  the  Adda,  which  here  leaves  the  lake 
to  water  and  to  nourish  a  great  part  of  Tuscany  and 
to  lose  itself  at  last  in  the  Po. 

But  delightful  though  the  lake  is  between  Bellaggio 
and  Colico  and  between  Bellaggio  and  Lecco,  there 
can  be  no  doubt  that  its  most  beautiful,  and  its  most 
frequented  and  famous  part,  is  that  which  lies  between 
Bellaggio  and  the  city  of  Como — the  Lake  of  Como 
proper.  The  special  and  enchanted  beauty  of  the 
Italian  lakes  is  here  at  its  best,  and  all  that  is 
most  characteristic  in  the  strange  lavishness  of  their 
beauty  seems  here  to  have  found  its  best  expression. 
And  to  add  to  our  pleasure  it  is  here,  too,  that  the 
historical  interest  of  this  part  of  Lombardy  reaches 
its  climax.  Here  the  Latin  world  is  secure  and  we  feel 
ourselves  in  the  country  of  Pliny  and  Virgil. 

Opposite  Bellaggio,  and  not  truly  in  this  southern 
arm  of  Lake  Como  at  all,  stands  Menaggio,  where  the 
Visconti  had  a  castle  of  which  nothing  but  a  few  ruins 
remains.  Close  by  is  the  village  of  Nobiallo,  and  above 
it  the  beautiful  sanctuary  of  La  Madonna  della  Pace. 

On  our  way  southward,  however,  we  shall  not  pass 
these  which  lie  in  the  northern  arm  of  the  lake,  but  are 
most  conveniently  visited  from  Bellaggio  and  deserve 
a  day  to  themselves. 


46  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

Quite  opposite  Bellaggio  and  south  of  Menaggio 
stands  Cadenabbia  which  may  be  called  the  head- 
quarters of  the  English  on  Lake  Como,  as  Bellaggio 
is  of  the  Germans.  Cadenabbia  is  almost  as  good 
a  centre  for  exploring  the  lake  as  Bellaggio,  and  the 
plain  Englishman  will  be  happier  there  out  of  the  way 
of  the  Teuton. 

From  Cadenabbia  one  may  walk  southward  by  the 
lake  to  Tremezzo,  or  better,  perhaps,  row  thither,  for 
the  villas  have  grown  so  thick  hereabout  that  walking 
is  no  longer  the  happiness  it  was.  The  best  of  these 
villas  is  the  Carlotta,  the  property  of  the  Duke  of  Saxe- 
Meiningen :  its  gardens,  woods,  roses,  magnolias, 
azaleas  and  terraces  of  lilies  are  a  joy  for  ever. 

Beyond  Tremezzo  we  come  to  Lenno  with  its  beautiful 
old  Baptistery  of  fine  Lombard  work  now  desecrated 
and  above  in  the  Val  Benedetto,  the  lovely  sanctuary 
of  the  Madonna  del  Soccorso,  and  the  Acqua  Fredda,  a 
Cistercian  monastery,  with  its  cypresses  of  the  twelfth 
century,  now  in  the  hands  of  French  monks. 

At  Lenno,  Pliny,  according  to  Giovio  the  great  historian 
of  the  Larian  lake,  had  his  villa  "  Comedy,"  and  some 
remains  of  the  Roman  time  may  still  be  seen  there 
beneath  the  waters  ;  while  on  the  southern  promontory 
that  shuts  in  Lenno,  stands  the  deserted  but  magnificent 
Villa  Arconati,  perhaps  the  loveliest  place  on  the  lake. 

Opposite  Lenno  and  a  little  farther  south  stands 
Lezzono  in  its  gorge  : 

Lezzono  della  mala  fortuna 

D'  invemo  senza  sol,  d'  estate  senza  luna. 

And,  indeed,  Lezzono  is  so  hidden  away  that  in  the 
winter  it  never  sees  the  sun,  nor  in  summer  the  moon. 

Opposite  Lezzono  we  see  the  only  island  on  the  lake, 
the  Isola  Comacina.  The  name  of  this  island  takes  our 
thoughts  back  over  a  thousand  years  and  more  of 
history. 

Here,  as  is  supposed,  Caninius  Rufus,  one  of  Pliny's 


o 


LAGO  DI  COMO  47 

correspondents,  had  a  villa.  "  How  is  Como  looking," 
Pliny  writes  to  him,  "  your  darling  spot  and  mine  ? 
And  that  most  charming  villa  of  yours,  what  of  it,  and 
its  portico  where  it  is  always  spring,  its  shady  plane 
trees,  its  fresh  crystal  canal  and  the  lake  below  that 
gives  so  lovely  a  view  ?  " 

Yet  it  is  not  of  Pliny  that  we  think  there  but  of  a  later 
time  than  his,  the  time  of  the  disaster.  For  here,  alone 
perhaps  in  all  Lombardy,  the  Latin  tradition  and 
perhaps  the  Latin  art  were  preserved  during  the  in- 
vasion and  the  rule  of  the  barbarian  Lombards.  From 
the  middle  of  the  sixth  century  until  Europe  was  well 
re-established  in  the  twelfth,  this  little  island  stood 
for  Europe,  a  refuge  for  civilisation  from  barbary, 
holding  ever  to  the  Imperial  cause.  When  at  last 
after  a  sixth  months'  siege  it  capitulated,  it  was  with 
honour,  for  in  every  real  sense  it  had  achieved  its  end ; 
it  had,  during  some  six  hundred  years,  borne  witness 
for  civilisation  and  upheld  the  European  tradition. 
And  remembering  this,  it  is  fitting  that  for  centuries 
a  miracle  play  which  represented  the  life  and  death 
of  S.  John  the  Baptist,  the  witness  and  the  forerunner, 
should  have  been  played  here  upon  his  festa  in  June. 
The  Isola  Comacina  may  well  be  called  S.  Giovanni. 

Who  shall  describe  the  way  from  Isola  Comacina  to 
Como:  is  it  not  one  of  the  most  luxurious  beauties 
of  the  world  ?  Argegno  with  the  Valj  d*  Intelvi,  Nesso 
with  its  waterfall,  what  can  be  said  of  them  ? 

It  is  only  when  below  Nesso,  in  a  great  bay  on  the 
eastern  bank,  we  come  to  the  Villa  Pliniana,  majestic 
in  the  shadow  and  silence  under  the  cliffs  where  the 
cypresses  stand  on  guard,  that  we  are  recalled  to  that 
old  world  which  seems  so  real  to  us  and  about  which 
Pliny  gossiped  so  delightfully.  For  the  Villa  Pliniana, 
though  now  an  affair  of  the  sixteenth  century  at  farthest, 
is  undoubtedly  the  site  of  another  of  those  retreats  that 
Pliny  had  in  so  great  a  plenty  by  the  Larian  shore  : 


48  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

and  it  possesses  a  remarkable  intermittent  spring  which 
he  describes  and  begs  Licinius  Sera  ^  to  explain  to  him  : — 
"  I  have  brought  you  as  a  present  from  my  native 
district  a  problem  which  is  fully  worthy  of  your  pro- 
found learning.  A  spring  rises  in  the  mountain-side  ; 
it  flows  down  a  rocky  course,  and  is  caught  in  a  little 
artificial  banqueting-house.  After  the  water  has  been 
retained  there  a  time  it  falls  into  the  Larian  Lake. 
There  is  a  wonderful  phenomenon  connected  with  it, 
for  thrice  very  day  it  rises  and  falls  with  fixed  regularity 
of  volume.  Close  by  it  you  may  recline  and  take  a 
meal,  and  drink  from  the  spring  itself,  for  the  water  is 
very  cool,  and  meanwhile  it  ebbs  and  flows  at  regular 
and  stable  intervals.  If  you  place  a  ring  or  anything 
else  on  a  dry  spot  by  the  edge  the  water  gradually 
rises  to  it,  and  at  last  covers  it,  and  then  just  as  gradually 
recedes  and  leaves  it  bare,  while  if  you  watch  it  for  any 
length  of  time  you  may  see  both  processes  twice  or  thrice 
repeated.  Is  there  any  unseen  air  which  first  distends 
and  then  tightens  the  orifice  and  mouth  of  the  spring, 
resisting  its  onset  and  yielding  at  its  withdrawal  ? 
We  observe  something  of  this  sort  in  jars  and  other 
similar  vessels  which  have  not  a  direct  and  free  opening, 
for  these,  when  held  either  perpendicularly  or  aslant, 
pour  out  their  contents  with  a  sort  of  gulp,  as  though 
there  were  some  obstruction  to  a  free  passage.  Or  is  this 
spring  like  the  ocean,  and  is  its  column  enlarged  and 
lessened  alternately  by  the  same  laws  that  govern  the 
ebb  and  flow  of  the  tide  ?  Or,  again,  just  as  rivers  on 
their  way  to  the  sea  are  driven  back  on  themselves  by 
contrary  rivers  and  the  opposing  tide,  is  there  anything 
that  can  drive  back  the  outflow  of  this  spring  ?  Or  is 
there  some  latent  reservoir  which  diminishes  and  retards 
the  flow  while  it  is  gradually  collecting  the  water  that 
has  been  drained  off,  and  increases  and  quickens  the 
flow  when  the  process  of  collection  is  complete  ?  Or 
*  Ep.  iv.  30. 


LAGO  DI  COMO  49 

is  there  some  curiously  hidden  and  unseen  balance  which 
when  emptied  raises  and  thrusts  forth  the  spring,  and 
when  filled  checks  and  stifles  its  flow  ?  Please  investi- 
gate the  causes  which  bring  about  this  wonderful 
result,  for  you  have  the  ability  to  do  so  ;  it  is  more  than 
enough  for  me  if  I  have  described  the  phenomenon  with 
accuracy.     Farewell." 

From  Argegno,  indeed,  to  Como  it  is  villa  and  garden 
and  grove  all  the  way.  Who  is  there  that  knows  Como 
that  has  not  floated  at  evening  under  those  balconies 
heavy  with  roses,  those  terraces  stately  with  cypresses 
and  myrtles,  those  hanging  gardens  of  azaleas  and  lilies 
and  geraniums,  where  the  magnolias  shine  in  the  twilight 
and  the  night  is  heavy  with  sweetness  ?  Perhaps  the 
best  known  of  these  palaces  beside  the  lake  are  the  Villa 
Taverna  at  Torno  and  the  Villa  d'  Este,  now  an  hotel, 
where  the  unfortunate  Queen  of  George  iv.  passed  so 
much  of  her  time,  at  Cenobbio.  But  if  these  are  the 
most  famous,  they  are  not  exceptional,  in  their  beauty, 
and  even  the  cypresses  of  the  Villa  d'  Este  can  be  easily 
matched  at  the  Villa  del  Pizzo  near  Torriggia. 

No  one,  I  suppose,  comes  to  Como,  that  shining  city 
under  the  Brunate  at  the  lake's  head,  for  history.  There 
is  plenty  of  it  if  one  does  ;  but  apart  from  the  fact  that 
it  is  the  last  place  in  which  to  find  any  leisure,  for  the 
country  around,  the  olive-clad  hills,  the  entrancing 
byways  and  the  lake  itself,  entice  one  to  be  ever  up  and 
about,  what  time  one  can  save  from  these  is  given,  and 
I  think  without  any  hesitation,  to  the  Duomo,  which 
Street  so  unaccountably  failed  to  appreciate,  but  which 
has  plenty  of  lovers  nevertheless. 

The  Duomo  and  the  Broletto,  an  earlier  work  of 
black  and  white  marble,  beside  it,  make  up  a  group  of 
buildings  as  picturesquely  lovely  as  any  in  Lombardy, 
and  few  there  be  who  do  not  straightway  fall  in  love 
with  them.  As  for  the  church,  it  is,  I  suppose,  one  of 
the  finest  examples  of  married  Gothic  and  Renaissance 
4 


50  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

— a  Gothic  perfectly  developed  yet  without  fantastic 
excess,  a  Renaissance  sober  and  sweet  and  without 
stiffness — an5^where  to  be  found  in  Italy. 

The  Gothic  church,  begun  in  1396,  remains  in  the  nave 
of  the  present  building,  where  the  pillars  are  purer  in 
form  than  those  of  Milan  and  the  fa9ade  is  as  charming 
as  can  be.  The  rest  of  the  church  is  a  work  of  the 
fifteenth  century ;  the  beautiful  south  portal,  dating 
from  145 1,  together  with  the  three  windows  there 
and  the  cornice  being  the  actual  work,  it  is  said,  of 
Bramante.  Bramante,  however,  is  not  the  chief  architect 
we  think  of  here,  for  the  design  of  the  Renaissance  church 
is  due  to  Tommaso  Rodari,  a  local  master  who  together 
with  his  brothers,  Bernardino  and  Jacopo,  designed  and 
built  and  decorated  the  whole  church. 

The  Rodari  to  whom  we  thus  owe  so  much  were  born 
at  Maroggia,  a  little  village  under  Monte  Generoso  not 
far  from  Campione,  and  whether  indeed  it  be  true  that 
the  Magistri  Comacini  had  greater  skill  than  others 
in  the  arts,  and  this  because  of  the  lingering  Latin 
culture  and  tradition  hereabout,  due  to  the  noble  defence 
of  the  Isola  Comacina,  or  whether  their  talents  were  more 
individual,  their  immense  success  here  in  Como  cannot 
be  doubted.  They  have  produced  one  of  the  loveliest 
buildings  anywhere  to  be  seen. 

It  is  said  that  when,  as  was  the  custom,  Tommaso 
Rodari  submitted  his  design  of  the  church  for  public 
criticism,  Cristof oro  Solari,  the  famous  Lombard  sculptor, 
would  have  none  of  it,  but  bade  him  try  again.  This 
he  is  said  to  have  done  with  the  success  we  see.  The 
beautiful  apse,  which  dates  from  15 19,  the  lovely  north 
doorway,  the  Porta  della  Rana,  dating  from  1505-9, 
are  Tommaso's  work,  while  the  noble  sculpture  that 
everywhere  abounds  is  due  to  him  and  his  brethren. 
It  is  difficult  to  speak  without  a  rare  enthusiasm  of  the 
master  works  of  the  Porta  della  Rana,  both  inside  and 
out,  or  of  the  splendid  canopies  supported  by  naked 


LAGO  DI  COMO  51 

fauns  (under  which  we  find  two  earlier  statues  of  the 
Plinys)  of  the  western  fa9ade.  But  the  whole  church 
within  and  without  is  peopled  with  the  statues  and  reliefs 
of  these  brothers  :  the  exquisite  S.  Sebastian  of  the 
Lady  Chapel  comes  from  the  same  hands  as  that  series 
of  Atlantes  in  the  upper  cornice  without,  which  form 
gargoyles,  that  have  thrown  off  all  grotesqueness,  and 
with  it  all  of  their  meaning,  though  not  their  use. 

The  Duomo  thus  so  lovely  was  not  only  on  the  part 
of  these  brother  builders  a  work  of  love,  for  the  people 
of  Como  and  its  diocese  subscribed  the  money  to  pay  for 
it ;  and  we  hear  of  some  princely  gifts  from  bishops  and 
magistrates  and  guilds,  the  Marchese  Giacomo  Gallic 
alone  bequeathing  290,000  lire,  and  one  of  the  Benzi 
10,000  ducats  for  this  purpose. 

Within  the  Cathedral  is  as  lovely  as  without,  in  spite 
of  its  gaudy  vaulting ;  and  the  few  unimportant  pictures 
in  the  chapels,  works  by  Bernardo  Luini  and  Gaudenzio 
Ferrari,  remain  to  it  in  the  places  for  which  they  were 
painted. 

The  Duomo,  indeed,  may  well  absorb  all  the  time  one 
can  spare  from  the  byways  ;  but  the  traveller  should  not 
by  any  means  miss,  if  he  can  help  it,  the  Romanesque 
church  of  S.  Fedele  with  its  beautiful  five-sided  apse 
not  far  from  the  Cathedral,  and  the  old  basilica  of 
S.  Abbondio,  a  building  chiefly  of  the  eleventh  century, 
but  originally  founded  by  the  Lombards  in  the  eighth. 


CHAPTER    III 
TO  MILAN 

VARESE,  CASTIGLIONE  d' OLONA,  SARONNO 

THE  most  direct  road  from  Como  to  Milan  is  by 
way  of  Fino  and  Cesano,  a  distance  of  some 
twenty-five  miles;  but  that  route  has  little  interest 
for  us,  and  save  by  the  hurried  traveller,  who  will  be 
well  advised  to  take  the  train,  it  should  be  discarded. 
For  the  wanderer  afoot,  or  better,  as  I  think,  in  Lombardy, 
though  not  in  Tuscany,  in  automobile,  that  is  a  good 
way  which  leads  him  first  eastward  just  south  of  the 
frontier  through  Olgiate  to  Varese  and  then  due  south 
through  Saronno  to  Milan.  By  this  way,  which  is 
three  good  days  afoot,  one  sees  not  only  Varese  and  its 
lake,  Saronno  and  its  pictures,  but  Castiglione  d'  Olona 
also,  where  one  of  the  greatest  of  Tuscan  masters 
has  left  us  in  the  church  and  baptistery  there  some 
wonderful  evidence  of  his  genius. 

And  there  is  more  than  this.  Few  days'  journey 
anywhere  in  Lombardy  will  prove  half  so  delightful 
as  that  over  the  hills  from  Como  to  Varese,  for  it  holds 
every  sort  of  surprise  and  every  sort  of  beauty,  of 
hill  and  valley  and  mountain,  of  vineyard  and  olive 
garden,  of  shadowy  stream  and  country  town  and 
village.  It  is  little  known  to  strangers.  No  great 
spectacle  lies  upon  that  way  where  all  is  so  fair,  and  it 
is  not  till  one  comes  to  Varese  itself  that  one  is  reminded 
of  the  tourist  and  all  that  he  brings  with  him.  Even  in 
Varese,  if  one  is  lucky  one  may  forget  such  things  as  these. 

For  Varese,  to  tell  the  truth,  is  not  itself  very  charming. 

52 


VARESE  53 

A  very  little  place,  its  arcaded  streets  are  in  fact  its 
only  attraction,  unless,  indeed,  the  ancient  Baptistery, 
in  the  small  Piazza  by  S.  Vittore,  may  be  said  to  be 
such.  What  makes  Varese  so  popular  a  town  are  its 
delicious  environs,  that  Italian  countryside  which  might 
stand  for  a  picture  or  a  symbol  of  all  that  is  best  in 
Europe,  and  of  which  we  can  never  have  enough. 
Of  the  Lago  di  Varese,  too,  small  as  it  is,  it  is  not  easy 
to  tire  ;  for  of  all  these  Lombard  waters,  it  has,  I 
think,  the  wildest  and  most  abundant  vegetation  ;  of 
vines  and  maize  and  wood  and  grove.  It  is  a  place  of 
flowers,  and  possesses  certainly  the  most  splendid  view — 
all  the  Alpine  range  from  Monte  Rosa,  including  Monte 
Cervano,  to  Monte  Viso,  that  pyramid — that  any  lake 
in  Italy  has  to  offer  us. 

If  Varese  be  dull  then,  the  countryside  of  which  it  is  the 
key  is  delicious.  Besides  the  lake,  which  itself  lies  some 
little  distance  from  the  town,  no  one  who  comes  to 
Varese  should  fail  to  visit  the  Sacro  Monte  with  its 
shady  chestnut  trees,  its  exquisite  chapels  and  its 
picturesque  church  and  shrine  at  the  summit — La 
Madonna  del  Monte.  The  fifteen  chapels  which  line  the 
steep  paved  way  to  the  church  are  as  it  were  a  visible 
rosary.  The  fifteen  mysteries,  joyful,  sorrowful  and 
glorious,  of  the  life  of  Our  Lady  being  there  expressed 
in  terra-cotta,  a  chapel  to  a  mystery.  The  church, 
as  are  the  chapels,  is  a  work  of  the  seventeenth  century  ; 
but  it  would  seem  that  some  shrine  has  always  existed 
here — for  **  Her  foundations  are  upon  the  holy  hills," — 
since  in  the  vestibule  of  the  church  there  remains  a 
relief  of  the  Madonna  dating  from  the  thirteenth 
century ;  while  an  old  convent,  certainly  of  the  fifteenth 
century,  stands  close  by.  What,  however,  will  be  more 
generally  appreciated  than  these  works  of  piety  is  the 
view  to  be  had  from  the  hill -top  :  it  embraces  the  Lake  of 
Varese,  the  smaller  lakes  of  Comabbio,  Biandronno  and 
Monate,  and  parts  of  Lakes  Maggiore  and  Como,  while  to 


54  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

the  south  and  east  lies  the  fruitful  Lombard  plain, 
golden  and  happy  in  the  sun  of  afternoon. 

There  are  many  other  happy  places  about  Varese, 
but  the  traveller,  already  anxious  for  Milan,  will  scarcely 
linger  here,  more  especially  as  the  best  of  all  lies  on  his 
way.  That  best  is  the  road  to  Castiglione  d'  Olona,  and 
Castiglione  itself.  You  go,  if  you  are  wise,  through 
Bizzozero,  climbing  the  hills,  with  wonderful  views  of 
the  Alps  and  the  lakes  all  the  way,  and  then  descend 
through  delicious  woods  by  Lozza  to  the  little  town 
of  Castiglione,  partly  in  the  valley  of  the  Olona,  a  pleasant 
stream,  and  partly  on  the  steep  hill  above  it. 

The  Castello,  which  belonged  to  the  noble  family  of 
Castiglione,  on  the  hill  above  the  little  town,  or  rather 
village,  had  by  the  beginning  of  the  fifteenth  century 
become  ruined,  and  there  Cardinal  Branda  da  Castiglione 
built  the  church  we  see  dedicated  to  Our  Lady  of  the 
Rosary,  to  S.  Lorenzo  and  to  S.  Stefano,  together  with 
a  little  Baptistery  separate  from  the  church  and  to 
the  north  of  it.  Here  by  the  utmost  good  fortune 
one  of  the  greatest  Tuscan  painters  of  that  day  was 
employed  to  adorn  these  buildings  in  fresco.  Branda 
da  Castiglione  was  Cardinal  of  S.  Clemente,  and  it  was 
there,  doubtless,  he  had  seen  the  work  of  Masolino  and 
liked  it.  So  he  bade  him  paint  his  own  Church  of 
the  Rosary  with  some  of  the  joyful  and  glorious 
mysteries  which  that  crown  of  prayers  celebrates,  and 
to-day  we  find  in  the  choir  the  result  of  this  commission. 
There  we  see  the  Marriage  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  the 
Annunciation,  the  Nativity,  the  Adoration  of  the  Magi, 
the  Assumption  and  the  Coronation  of  Our  Lady  in 
six  compartments  with  Our  Lord  in  benediction  in 
the  midst ;  while  on  the  north  wall  we  find  the  story 
of  S.  Lorenzo ;  on  the  south,  the  story  of  S.  Stephen ; 
but  these  are  almost  perished.  In  the  Baptistery 
close  by  we  find  many  scenes,  far  better  preserved  than 
those  in  the  church,  of  the  hfe  of  S.  John  Baptist, 


.  •  J    »       J  J 


SALOME 

MA  SOLI  NO 

Frf.ito  in  the  Haptixtery.  Casli^lione  ft'Oloiiii 


CASTIGLIONE  D'  OLONA  55 

master-works  of  the  great  Tuscan  whom  Cardinal 
Branda  da  Castiglione  found  at  work  in  S.  Clemen te 
in  Rome.  The  first  modern  critics  to  write  of  these 
paintings  were  the  almost  infallible  Crowe  and  Caval- 
caselle.^  Vasari  does  not  mention  them,  and,  as  it  seems, 
they  were  quite  unknown  when  in  the  end  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  the  church  being  very  dark,  they  were  covered 
with  whitewash  and  were  only  uncovered  in  1843. 

It  has  been  reserved  for  a  critic  of  our  own  time 
to  make  a  further  discovery.  For,  as  it  happened,  Mr. 
Berenson  came  to  Castiglione  not  long  ago  and  found 
in  the  Palazzo  Castiglione  here  a  great  frieze  running 
round  the  great  hall  consisting  of  four  frescoes  from 
the  master's  hand.  Three  of  these  had  been  white- 
washed, but  in  that  which  had  escaped  he  found 
one  of  the  finest  and  one  of  the  most  surprising  things 
in  all  Tuscan  art  of  the  quattrocento :  "  nothing 
less  than  a  vast  landscape,  a  sort  of  panorama  of  the 
Alps,  with  a  broad  torrent  rushing  down  to  the  plain." 
Was  it  Cardinal  Branda,  who  so  loved  those  great  hills 
he  could  see  from  his  house,  or  Masolino  himself,  who, 
Tuscan  as  he  was,  looking  upon  them  for  the  first 
time,  gave  himself  suddenly  to  them  and  recorded 
here  for  ever  his  sudden  and  overwhelming  joy  ?  We 
shall  never  know :  only,  as  Mr.  Berenson  says,  "  let  us 
cease  talking  about  the  late  date  at  which  in  Italy 
landscape  began  to  be  treated  on  its  own  account." 

It  is  hard  to  tear  oneself  away  from  so  charming 
and  quiet  a  place  as  Castiglione  d'  Olona,  nor  are  the 
Masolinos  there,  even  in  the  matter  of  works  of  art, 
the  only  things  to  be  seen  and  to  be  loved.  In  the 
Church  of  the  Rosary  is  the  tomb  of  Cardinal  Branda 
by  Leonardo  Griff o,  made  in  1443.  Then  that  steep, 
stQuy  and  delicious  way  in  the  shadow  of  the  walls 
of  gardens  which  leads  down  from  the  CoUegiata,  where 

^  See  Crowe  and  Cavalcaselle,  History  of  Painting  in  Italy  (Ed. 
Hutton,  1909),  vol.  ii.  p.  218.     Originally  published  i860. 


56  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

the  old  castello  stood,  into  the  village  brings  us  to  the 
Chiesa  di  Villa,  a  charming  Renaissance  building,  having 
outside  two  huge  statues  in  stone  of  S.  Christopher  and 
S.  Antony  the  Hermit.  Within  is  another  Castiglione 
tomb,  that  of  Guido,  who  died  in  1485. 

But  the  true  delight  of  Castiglione  is  the  country, 
those  wooded  hills  and  valleys  and  streams  that  abound 
there,  the  byways  that  are  as  lovely  as  any  in  Lombardy, 
and  the  fragrant  simplicity  and  honesty  that  one  meets 
everywhere  thereabout.  Yet  the  road  calls  and  we 
must  follow  it,  at  first  to  Venegono  and  then,  either 
afoot  or  by  train,  to  Saronno  and  to  Milan. 

Saronno,  which  lies  in  the  plain  about  half-way 
between  Castiglione  and  Milan,  is  known  to  all  Italy 
for  its  cheese,  but  to  us  wayfarers  for  its  Santuario 
della  Madonna  di  Saronno,  at  the  end  of  an  avenue  of 
planes,  where  Luini  and  Gaudenzio  Ferrari  painted 
their  best  and  most  charming  works.  The  church 
itself  is  an  early  Renaissance  building  by  Pietro  dell'  Orto, 
and  has  a  charming  bell  tower  by  Paolo  Porta ;  its  facade, 
however,  is  baroque  of  the  seventeenth  century.  It  is  for 
Luini  and  Gaudenzio  Ferrari,  however,  that  we  are  come. 

Let  us  make  no  mistake  about  it,  we  shall  not  dis- 
cover in  the  pictures  or  series  of  pictures  of  the  Lom- 
bard painters  any  of  that  delight  we  are  wont  to  feel  in 
the  work  of  the  Tuscans  or  of  the  Venetian  masters. 
Lombardy  expressed  herself  in  architecture  rather  than 
in  painting,  and  the  pupils  of  Leonardo  the  Florentine 
are  the  very  last  to  whom  we  should  go  to  find  what 
painting  really  amounted  to  in  Lombardy.  Gaudenzio 
Ferrari,  it  is  true,  suffered  perhaps  less  than  the  rest 
from  Leonardo's  overwhelming  genius,  but  though  he 
manages  to  keep  something  of  the  energy  of  the  moun- 
taineer, of  his  coarse  strength  and  original  virtue,  he 
succumbs  at  last  to  that  disease  of  prettiness  from 
which  all  that  company  suffered  so  grievously.  Nor  is 
Luini  himself  exempt :    rather  is  he  the  chief  among 


SARONNO  57 

the  sick.  His  intellect  seems  to  have  lost  itself  under 
the  weight  of  Leonardo's  ideas  which  he  could  not 
understand,  and  nothing  but  his  gentleness  and  love  of 
fair  women  have  saved  him  from  an  affected  mediocrity. 
How  pretty  and  how  charming  they  are  with  their 
sweet,  wan  smiles,  those  girls  he  shows  us  as  Salome 
or  S.  Catherine  or  the  Blessed  Virgin  herself.  These 
people  are  the  ghosts  of  a  ghost  seen  between  sleeping 
and  waking,  but  the  life  and  the  life -giver  died  with 
Leonardo. 

Saronno  is  the  first  town  on  our  road  that  is  truly  of 
the  plain.  The  thirty  miles  between  it  and  Milan  lead 
us  farther  and  farther  from  the  hills,  till  all  is  lost  in  the 
immensity  of  that  waveless  plain  which  is  Lombardy. 
As  the  traveller  pursues  his  way — it  may  be  towards 
evening,  towards  sunset,  and  on  into  the  twiHght — into 
this  emptiness,  nothing  will  impress  him  so  much  as 
the  infinity  of  this  vastness  all  about  him,  without 
features  of  any  kind,  without  the  silence  of  the 
mountains  or  their  exaltation,  but  with  something  of 
their  mastery  and  their  opposition.  Nor  can  any  other 
experience  he  may  have  teach  him  so  well  the  character 
of  the  plain  as  this  thirty-mile  walk  from  Saronno  to  the 
capital.  It  is  true  that  from  Monte  Generoso  the 
greater  part  of  this  tremendous  plain  is  spread  out 
before  his  eyes,  but  from  that  high  place  he  but  knows 
it  with  his  mind :  on  the  road  he  will  suffer  it,  and  his 
weariness,  unrelieved  by  surprise,  or  the  exaltation  of 
the  hills,  will  teach  him,  as  nothing  else  can,  the  brutal 
strength  of  this  unexpected  bastion  which  guards  Italy 
between  the  mountains  and  the  mountains.  In  the 
dusk  the  beafuty  of  the  way,  of  the  fields,  of  the  vine- 
yards is  lost,  and  nothing  but  the  sense  of  space,  of 
emptiness  and  an  incredible  distance  remains  to  him. 
It  is  so  I  would  have  him  come  to  the  iron  city  of  Milan. 


CHAPTER    IV 
THE  STORY  OF  MILAN 

OF  the  origin  of  Milan,  ever  so  tremendous  and  so 
strong,  whose  sound  is  the  sound  of  iron  upon  iron, 
we  are  as  ignorant  as  we  are  of  the  origin  of  her  name. 
Livy  tells  us  that  the  city  was  founded  by  the  Insubres, 
a  village,  perhaps,  before  the  Roman  conquest,  and  others 
speak  of  two  barbarian  chiefs,  Medo  and  Olano,  who 
gave  her  her  name  Mediolanum;  but  others,  again, 
derive  this  from  the  sudden  impression  of  spring  that 
comes  into  the  heart  when  having  crossed  the  Alps,  out  of 
the  northern  winter,  we  come  into  Mayland,  the  country 
of  May.  The  question  is  undecided  and  will  remain 
so,  for  we  know  as  little  of  the  early  history  of  Milan 
as  we  do  of  her  foundation  or  the  derivation  of  her 
name. 

Milan — Mediolanum — enters  history  in  221  B.C., 
when  the  Romans  conquered  the  Insubres,  the  Cisalpine 
Gauls  of  this  great  district,  by  the  hands,  as  we  have  seen, 
of  Cornelius  Scipio  and  Marcus  Marcellus  ;  but  her 
real  importance  only  begins  at  the  end  of  the  third 
century,  when  in  the  long  administrative  decadence  of 
the  Empire,  on  the  partition  of  it  by  Diocletian  in  292  a.d.  , 
Milan  became  the  capital  of  the  vicariate  of  Italy. 
There  Maximinius  Hercules,  who  surrounded  the  city  with 
a  wall,  had  his  residence  and  there  his  successor  held  a 
splendid  court.  It  was  from  Milan,  too,  that  Constantine 
dated  his  famous  edict  which  permitted  to  all  the  exer- 
cise of  Christianity  in  313  a.d.,  and  there  S.  Ambrose 


THE  STORY  OF  MILAN  59 

had  his  archiepiscopal  throne.  S.  Ambrose  (340-397) 
indeed  made  of  Milan,  as  it  were,  the  rival  of  Rome  itself, 
when  he  faced  Theodosius  and  appeared  suddenly  at  the 
door  of  S.  Ambrogio  as  the  avenger  of  Justice,  and  still 
more  when  by  the  organisation  of  his  diocese  he  gave  her 
a  real  independence,  a  shadow  of  which  may  be  said  to 
remain  even  to-day.  S.  Ambrose,  in  fact,  appears  as 
the  first  great  master  of  the  city,  and  under  him  Milan, 
which  since  the  coming  of  Valentinian  in  364  a.d. 
had  been  the  capital  of  the  west,  became  for  a  moment 
the  religious  centre  of  Italy. 

This  era  of  splendour,  greatness  and  prosperity  was 
suddenly  interrupted  by  that  appalling  series  of  catas- 
trophes which  were  repeated  during  near  three  hundred 
years,  which  would  indubitably  have  destroyed  any 
other  civilisation,  but  which  the  Empire  survived 
because  it  was  Christian. 

We  have  gone  as  fully  as  may  be  into  the  causes  and 
the  results  of  these  disasters  in  a  previous  chapter : 
here  we  shall  only,  and  very  briefly,  take  note  of  them 
as  they  directly  affected  Milan.  From  this  point  of 
view  they  may  be  briefly  summarised  as  follows : 
the  raid  of  Alaric  into  Italy  in  401  which  caused  Honorius 
to  flee  from  Milan  to  Ravenna,  and  there  to  establish 
himself ;  the  passage  of  Attila  in  452  ;  the  passage  of 
Belisarius,  followed  by  the  sack  and  destruction  of  the 
city  in  539  by  the  Goth  Uraias.  That  appalling  horror, 
in  which  everything  that  might  have  seemed  permanent 
in  the  city  was  destroyed,  confirmed  her  fate,  already 
prophesied  in  the  flight  of  Honorius.  Henceforth  her 
importance  passed  to  the  following  cities,  her  neighbours 
in  turn  :  Ravenna,  Pa  via,  Monza  and  Verona.  So 
utterly  was  Milan  deserted  as  a  capital  that  she  was  not 
even  visited  by  Charlemagne  when  he  brought  that 
great  deliverance,  and  it  is  not  till  the  Church  was  able 
through  his  act,  which  she  had  prompted,  to  begin  the 
slow  re-establishment  of  Latin  power,  and  we  see  the 


6o  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

rise  of  the  Bishops  to  civil  domination  which,  rightly 
understood,  is  the  birth  of  the  commune,  that  Milan 
was  rebuilt  in  808  by  Bishop  Anspert,  who  became  the 
protector  of  the  city,  the  rebuilder  of  her  walls  and  the 
recons  true  tor  of  her  monuments.  Nothing  surprises 
us  more,  yet  nothing  should  surprise  us  so  little,  as  the 
rapidity  of  that  resurrection,  which  had,  in  fact,  been 
prepared  during  some  five  hundred  years  and  by  the 
Papacy.  Nor  should  its  success  and  its  endurance 
cause  us  astonishment ;  for  we  know  that  we  have  in 
us  the  seeds  of  an  eternal  life,  and  that  Christendom 
alone  in  the  world  can  change  and  yet  not  pass  away. 

As  for  Milan,  we  see  her  in  945  as  the  seat  of  the  Diet 
which  proclaimed  Lothair  King  of  lidly,  and  only  fifty- 
five  years  later,  in  the  year  1000,  her  Bishop  is  able  to 
profit  by  the  troubles  which  kept  the  Emperor  in 
Germany  to  affirm,  rather  than  to  declare  merely,  the 
independence  of  his  diocese,  and  this  in  the  face  of  the 
Papal  as  well  as  of  the  Imperial  claims,  and  thus  to 
give  back  to  Milan  her  greatness  and  her  past.  With 
this  act  we  enter  upon  the  new  life  of  Milan. 

If  the  first  act  of  the  Papacy,  of  the  Catholic  Church, 
as  the  soul,  the  saviour  and  the  conservator  of  Europe, 
after  the  administrative  destruction  of  the  old  Empire, 
was  to  secure  the  feudal  idea,  and  the  lordship  of 
the  Archbishop,  her  second  was  the  logical  develop- 
ment of  this,  the  constitution  of  the  commune.  It  is 
true  that  this  was  not  achieved  all  at  once,  that  it 
was  a  gradual  and  even  a  contested  development, 
but  it  was  achieved,  and  by  the  age-long  conservation 
and  contrivance  of  the  soul  of  Europe,  the  Catholic 
Church. 

For  the  genius  of  the  Church  had  been  "  feudal " 
even  from  the  beginning,  and  when  we  see  Charlemagne 
suddenly  gather  up  and  apply  this  system  to  Europe, 
it  is  not  in  fact  an  original  conception  of  his  own,  or 
even  of  his  time,  but  rather  the  application  of  an  idea 


THE  STORY  OF  MILAN  6i 

fundamental  in  ecclesiastic  government  which  he  found 
there  already  tried  and  ready  to  his  hand.  Now 
feudalism  is  the  framework  and  the  fundamental 
structure  of  Europe  from  his  day  at  least  to  the  Re- 
formation :  it  stands  there  and  bears  up  the  government 
and  the  civilisation  of  Europe  as  the  arches  and  buttresses 
bear  up  a  Gothic  cathedral,  when  all  that  is  merely 
useful  or  decorative  is  swept  away  :  it  stands  the  integral 
skeleton  of  the  whole,  the  necessary  thing,  as  these 
pillars  and  arches  and  buttresses  would  stand,  a  vast 
and  splendid  skeleton,  if  the  walls  of  a  Gothic  church, 
the  windows  and  everything  merely  accessary  were 
suddenly  swept  away.  Feudalism — this  is  what  in  the 
way  of  government,  of  the  structure  of  society,  the 
Church  was  able  to  save  and  to  contrive  out  of  the 
administrative  decadence  and  destruction  of  the  old 
Empire.  The  first  secular  appearance  of  this  is  to  be 
found  in  the  establishment  of  the  civil  rule  of  the  Bishops  : 
by  them  the  Church  declares  to  the  world  the  new  system 
which  was  to  endure  for  a  thousand  years.  It  is  a 
profound  mistake  to  think  of  the  rise  of  the  commune  as 
the  contradiction  of  this  idea  :  it  affirms  it  and  develops 
it.  The  commune  marks  merely  the  entry  of  the  people 
into  the  feudal  system ;  nothing  more :  and  the  ruin 
of  that  system  in  the  fourteenth  century  means  the  ruin 
of  Italy. 

I  say  all  this  was  saved  and  continued  by  the  Church  : 
but  not  all  at  once,  nor  without  many  misapprehensions. 
In  Milan  in  th^  year  looo  the  Bishop  had  dreamed  of 
an  independent  government.  His  successors  suffered 
for  his  fault,  and  had  not  his  strength  or  force  to  recom- 
mend them.  They  dissipated  their  authority  in  paltry 
quarrels  about  interior  discipline  in  Church  government, 
and  had  not  the  great  Hildebrand  sat  in  Peter's  throne 
they  might  have  thrown  all  northern  Italy  back  into 
the  old  chaos  :  but  the  Pope  destroyed  them  and  with 
them  their  anarchy.     The  quarrel  began  in  the  matter 


6a  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

of  the  marriage  of  the  clergy,  which  the  Ambrosian 
Rule  permitted  with  restrictions.  This  Hildebrand  was 
determined  to  destroy.  The  quarrel  became  a  civil 
war,  tumultuous  scenes  daily  occurred  in  the  churches 
and  one  of  them  had  terminated  in  the  assassination 
of  Archbishop  Guido  by  the  Patarini — the  heretics — 
in  1066.  When  Hildebrand  became  Pope  in  1073  he 
took  the  matter  in  hand  and  ended  it  at  a  blow,  for- 
bidding for  the  future  the  marriage  of  priests,  but 
tolerating  those  already  married.  What  chiefly 
resulted  from  the  years  of  anarchy  and  this  submission, 
however,  was  valuable,  for  Milan  lost  her  great  position 
as  the  centre  of  religion  in  northern  Italy  :  it  became 
evident  that  the  Church  would  not  tolerate  the  power 
of  the  Bishops  to  grow  so  strong  and  so  independent  as 
to  threaten  the  common  structure  of  Europe,  which 
she  had  built,  and  this  attitude  of  hers  prepared 
the  way  for  the  new  development,  the  rise  of  the 
communes. 

The  continual  and  healthy  growth  of  the  civil  power 
was  more  and  more  assured  by  the  security  which 
was  come  again  to  Milan,  and  with  it  material  well- 
being,  and  the  need  not  only  of  a  definitive  but  of  a 
popular  organisation.  For  the  population,  which 
increased  daily,  numbered  already  in  the  eleventh 
century  some  300,000  souls,  and  certainly  in  the  Patarini 
tumults  had  become  self-conscious.  The  Emperor  was 
busy  in  Germany  and  both  nobles  and  people  were  ready 
to  receive  a  civil  and  lay  constitution,  by  which  they 
should  themselves  guarantee  their  rights  and  their 
security.  The  Milanese  Republic  which  now  came  to 
be  established  was  governed  by  consules  named  by 
three  orders  of  electors  :  the  capitani,  which  were  the 
great  nobles;  the  valvassori,  which  were  the  lesser  nobility; 
and  the  cittadini,  which  were  the  better  class  of  the 
people.  Thus  we  see  a  new  lay  government  established 
upon  the  model  of  the  ancient  ecclesiastical  system,  that 


THE  STORY  OF  MILAN  63 

society  which  had  been  the  only  fixed  and  immutable 
thing  in  all  the  hurricane  of  change  which  had  swept 
over  western  Europe. 

Like  all  new  societies  the  young  republic  was  strenu- 
ously pugnacious.  One  of  its  earliest  acts  was  to  demand 
and  to  receive  recognition  from  the  archbishops,  and  in 
this  it  would  receive  the  toleration  if  not  the  encourage- 
ment of  both  Pope  and  Emperor.  But  it  soon  became 
so  strong  that  it  not  only  attempted  and  achieved 
conquest,  but  was  ready  to  flout  the  suzerainty  and  the 
rights  of  the  Emperor.  Its  dream  was  independence, 
but  for  independence  there  was  no  opportunity  in  the 
system  that  reached  its  full  expression  in  the  thirteenth 
century. 

We  see  the  young  republic,  strong  in  its  youth  and 
but  half  understanding  the  necessities  of  its  existence, 
presently  exercising  authority  outside  the  walls  of  the 
city.  We  see  the  Milanese  pillage  Lodi,  seize  Como,  at 
war  with  Cremona  and  triumphant  over  the  Pavesani 
at  Marcignago.  What  we  really  witness  is  the  attempt 
of  Milan  to  form  a  state  within  a  state,  to  establish  her 
independence  as  the  head  of  a  state  outside  the  feudal 
system,  outside  the  structure,  that  is,  of  Europe.  This 
neither  Pope  nor  Emperor  could,  for  the  sake  of  Europe, 
tolerate.  It  is  true  the  conquered  or  threatened  cities 
about  Milan  protested,  and  one  of  them,  Lodi,  certainly 
appealed  to  the  Emperor,  but  it  was  not  that  appeal 
alone,  or  even  chiefly,  which  caused  him  to  act.  It 
was  necessity.  A  young  and  ardent  man,  eager  for 
every  distinction,  Barbarossa  was  by  no  means  reluctant 
to  intervene.  He  was  the  Emperor,  the  head  of  the 
civil  state  of  Europe,  and  if  that  state  were  not  to  be 
a  mere  idea,  he  must  be  obeyed.  The  heresy  of  Milan 
was  obvious  when,  in  the  presence  of  his  Legate,  the 
consules  tore  up  his  letter.  Barbarossa  crossed  the  Alps 
with  an  army,  and  what  is  known  as  the  Lombard  war 
began. 


64  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

This  war  lasted  for  twenty  years.  Roughly,  it  may  be 
said  that  those  cities  which  were  strong  enough  to 
hope  to  establish  their  independence  sided  with  Milan, 
those  which  were  menaced  by  her  and  without  hope  of 
such  independence  were  against  her  and  with  the 
Emperor ;  and,  again,  those  cities  which  were  at  the 
mercy  of  the  latter  cities  sided  with  Milan,  because  they 
hoped  she  would  remember  and  deliver  them  from  their 
nearer  and  more  powerful  neighbours. ^  All  wars  are 
fought  from  the  merest  self-interest.  The  Lombard 
war,  far  from  being  an  exception,  is  one  of  the  best 
examples  of  this. 

In  the  first  campaign,  that  of  1153,  the  advantage 
was  with  Milan.  Barbarossa  never  dared  to  attack  her, 
but  succeeded  in  burning  Tortona  her  ally.  Now  Tor- 
tona  was  her  ally  because  Pavia,  which  stood  up  between 
her  and  Milan,  was  her  enemy. 

Five  years  later  the  Emperor  came  again  with  115,000 
men  and  laid  siege  to  Milan,  which  had  made  the  Naviglio, 
the  moat  which  still  encircles  the  older  city,  for  a  defence, 
but  after  a  month  took  himself  off,  only  insisting  that 
he  should  have  the  right  to  confirm  the  consules  chosen 
by  the  city.  At  the  same  time,  he  wished  to  impose 
upon  all  the  Italian  cities  the  presence  of  an  ofiicer  to 
represent  his  authority.  This,  though  a  new,  was  a 
logical  demand.  Milan  refused  it,  and  the  third  cam- 
paign began.     It  lasted  two  years. 

In  1 1 61  Barbarossa  destroyed  and  took  up  his  winter 

1  Pavia  and  Milan  were  the  great  and  leading  rivals,  after 
them  Cremona  appears  as  the  third  strong,  independent  centre. 
Pavia  attacked  Tortona  ;  Milan,  Lodi  and  Novara.  Each  smaller 
city  sought  succour  of  the  great  city  which  it  had  least  reason 
to  fear.  Cremona  attacked  Crema,  therefore  Crema  stood  with 
Milan,  as  did  Tortona.  Pavia,  Cremona  and  Lodi  with  Novara 
are  allied  against  Milan.  Then  Brescia,  fearing  Cremona,  joins 
Milan  ;  but  Asti,  hating  and  fearing  Tortona,  joins  Pavia.  It  is 
to  be  noted,  that  of  the  more  distant  cities  Parma  and  Modena 
are  usually  for  Milan  ;  Piacenza  and  Reggio  for  Pavia. 


THE  STORY  OF  MILAN  65 

quarters  in  Pavia.  For  Pavia,  ever  faithful  to  the 
Imperial  and  the  aristocratic  cause,  stood  for  it  in 
Northern  Italy  even  as  Milan  now,  and  probably  always, 
even  in  the  Dark  Age,  stood  for  the  Latin  and  the  popular. 
There,  in  Pavia,  Barbarossa  prepared  himself.  In  1162 
he  went  round  about  Milan  cutting  off  her  supplies, 
to  such  good  purpose  that  by  March  i  deputies  were 
sent  him  from  the  city  to  announce  its  surrender.  On 
the  i6th  of  the  same  month  he  ordered  the  Milanese 
to  abandon  the  city.  This  was  done  within  ten  days, 
and  on  the  26th  he  marched  at  the  head  of  his 
army  into  the  deserted  city,  and  there  published  an 
edict  ordering  the  utter  destruction  of  Milan,  the 
execution  of  which  he  confided  to  the  soldiers  of  her 
neighbours  and  rivals. ^  It  is  easy  to  imagine  with  what 
joy  the  men  of  Pavia,  Cremona  and  Lodi  set  about 
this  task.  Everything  but  the  churches  was  destroyed, 
and  Milan  found  herself  as  desolate  as  she  had  been  six 
centuries  before  when  Uraias  the  Goth  had  done  with 
her. 

Nevertheless  she  persisted,  she  did  not  die.  On  the 
contrary,  the  Milanese  went  through  Italy  seeking 
enemies  for  Barbarossa.  They  found  the  best  in  Pope 
Alexander  iii.,  who  now  came  forward  to  restore  the 
fabric  once  more,  and  grouped  under  his  banner  all  who 
feared  the  Imperial  barbarian.  For  the  excesses  of 
Barbarossa  had  alarmed  not  only  his  enemies,  but  his 
friends  and  allies.  Within  three  years  of  the  destruction 
of  Milan  we  see  all  Lombardy  united  against  him,  and 
within  ten  years  we  see  the  rebuilding  of  Milan  by  this 
new  League.  In  1167  the  delegates  of  the  Lombard 
cities  met  at  the  monastery  of  Pontida  and  formed  the 
famous  and  glorious  Lombard  League  under  the  Pope, 

1  It  was  now  that  Barbarossa  rifled  the  tomb  of  the  Magi  in 
S.  Eustorgio  and  carried  their  bones  to  Cologne,  where  they  are 
to  this  day.  He  also  took  the  Iron  Crown  of  Lombardy  from 
Milan  to  Monza,  where  it  remains. 

5 


66  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

by  whose  favour,  according  to  Villani,  the  city  of  Milan 
was  rebuilt  by  the  following  year,  when  it  was  already 
so  strong  that  Frederick,  coming  again  into  Lombardy, 
did  not  dare  to  attack  it.  But  this  was  not  all.  The 
League  established  a  permanent  and  a  federal  fortress 
which  was  called  Alessandria,  after  the  Pope,  a  place 
naturally  stronger  than  Pa  via ;  ^  and  when  in  1177 
Barbarossa  made  his  last  descent  into  Italy  the  League 
was  ready  for  him  and  waiting  :  it  defeated  him  at 
Legnano,  and  Pope  Alexander  at  Venice  received  the 
submission  of  the  Emperor  in  the  porch  of  S.  Mark's 
Church.  The  Peace  of  Constance  in  1183  finally 
closed  the  struggle.  By  this  peace  the  Lombard 
cities  gained  the  Imperial  permission  to  establish  a 
republican  form  of  government,  but  the  old  Imperial 
rights,  which  had  never  been  in  dispute,  were  maintained. 
The  treaty  shows  us  the  Church  as  the  guardian  both  of 
these  concessions  and  of  the  Imperial  rights  :  for  the 
Bishop  in  all  cases  of  contested  regalia  was  to  name  two 
arbitrators. 

The  victory  of  the  League,  however,  successful  as  it 
was,  in  removing  the  common  and  exterior  enemy,  left 
the  field  open  for  internal  dispute.  Indeed,  from  the 
very  moment  of  the  Peace  of  Constance  the  history 
of  Milan  changes  in  character.  Revolution  succeeds 
foreign  war,  and  once  more  the  question  of  organisation 
comes  to  the  front  now  that  that  of  liberty  had  been 
decided.  What  we  see  during  the  next  hundred  years 
is  the  ruin  of  the  republic.  This  was  caused,  super- 
ficially at  any  rate,  by  the  rivalry  of  the  nobles  and  the 
people.  Her  government,  so  numerous  and  so  unwieldy, 
representing  little  but  class  and  even  racial  distinctions, 

1  The  city  of  Alessandria  was  built  to  watch  and  to  crush  Pavia, 
which  was  always  against  Milan  and  the  Latins.  The  Pope,  on 
his  side,  gave  it  a  bishop,  deposing  the  Bishop  of  Pavia  and  taking 
away  from  him  the  dignity  of  the  Pallium  and  the^Cross.  Cf. 
Villani,  lib.  v.  cap.  2. 


THE  STORY  OF  MILAN  67 

invited  discord,  and  by  no  possibility  could  have 
produced  harmony.  It  is  not  surprising,  then,  that 
the  middle  classes,  now  growing  so  wealthy,  used  their 
votes  to  call  a  man  into  power  who  was  indifferent 
to  all  parties  and  able  to  guarantee  peace.  This  man 
was  a  foreigner,  Uberto  Visconti  of  Piacenza,  and  he 
was  elected  podesta  for  a  year,  in  1186,  and  ruled, 
indeed,  as  a  dictator.  Both  he  and  his  successors 
appear  to  have  governed  with  success,  but  their  presence 
as  servants  of  the  State  was  only  an  expedient,  they 
pointed  the  way  inevitably  to  a  permanent  lordship, 
not  of  an  individual  but  of  a  family.  This  result, 
certain  from  the  first,  came  about  when  Frederick  11. 
intervened  in  1226  and  proposed  to  convoke  a  Diet 
at  Cremona.  This  threat  divided  the  Lombards 
into  two  camps,  Guelph  and  Ghibelline,  which  did 
not  lack  captains.  In  Milan  the  people  rallied  round 
the  family  of  Delia  Torre ;  the  nobles  called  Ezzelino 
da  Romano,  Frederick's  vicar  in  Northern  Italy,  to 
their  aid.  Him  the  Guelphs  defeated  at  Ponte  di 
Cassano  in  1259  ^^<i  confided  the  government  of 
Milan  to  two  magistrates,  Martino  della  Torre  and 
Oberto  Palavicini.  This  seemed  to  establish  the 
Della  Torre  in  Milan,  but  they  were  beaten  almost 
at  once  by  the  Ghibelline  Archbishop,  Otto  Visconti, 
who  placed  himself  at  the  head  of  their  enemies  and 
broke  them  finally  at  Desio,  turned  them  out  of  Milan 
and  proclaimed  himself  perpetual  lord.  From  this 
moment,  for  more  than  a  hundred  and  fifty  years,  save  for 
a  brief  interval  from  1302  to  131 1  when  the  Della 
Torre  returned,  the  Visconti  ruled  Milan  with  a  rod  of 
iron. 
The  Visconti  ruled  Milan  as  Vicars  of  the  Emperor.^ 

^  We  ought,  perhaps,  to  recognise  the  differences  there  were 
in  the  despotisms,  differences  of  origin  and  legitimacy  chiefly, 
for  in  result  they  were  largely  the  same,  and  whether  good  or 
bad,  never  founded  a  really  strong  State.     In  theory  (though 


68  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

Matteo  Visconti,  whom  Henry  vii.  placed  at  the 
head  of  the  government  after  the  Torriani  interval 
of  1302-1311,  passed  his  time  in  defending  the 
Ghibelline  cause  in  Northern  Italy  against  Robert  of 
Anjou.  His  successor,  Galeazzo  (1322-28),  was  so  little 
a  Ghibelline,  however,  that  Louis  of  Bavaria  coming  to 
Italy  in  1327  imprisoned  him  as  a  traitor ;  yet  the 
Emperor,  in  need  of  money,  sold  to  Galeazzo's  son  Azzo, 
after  his  father's  death,  both  the  lordship  and  the  title 
of  Imperial  vicar.  This  prince,  for  he  was  no  less 
during  his  reign  of  eleven  years,  governed  with  success 
and  transformed  Milan.  He  it  was  who  founded  the 
new  rampart,  the  Refosso,  to  protect  the  new  and  larger 
city.  He  paved  the  streets  and  restored  the  palace. 
Moreover,  he  introduced  and  encouraged  the  silk  industry 
which  so  largely  increased  the  wealth  of  Milan.  He  died 
in  1339  with  the  reputation  of  a  virtuous  and  pacific 
prince.  Yet  under  him  Milan  had  become  the  mistress 
of  nine  subject  cities,  namely,  Como,  Vercelli,  Lodi, 
Piacenza,  Cremona,  Crema,  Borgo  S.  Donnino,  Bergamo 
and  Brescia.  He  was  succeeded  by  his  uncle,  Luchino 
(1339-49),  under  whom  Milan  brought  seven  other  towns 
within  her  sway,  namely,  Parma,  No  vara,  x\lba,  Ales- 
sandria, Tortona,  Asti  and  Pontremoli.  Luchino's 
brother  Giovanni  bought  the  archbishopric  of  Milan 
from  the  Papal  Court  at  Avignon  for  50,000  florins  and  a 
yearly  payment  of  10,000  florins,  and  in  1349  succeeded 

in  reality  feudalism  was  breaking  up  in  Italy),  the  despotisms 
which  arose  in  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries  in  Northern 
Italy  and  the  Marches  chiefly  derived  in  each  case  either  from 
Emperor  or  Pope.  The  Visconti  held  of  the  Empire,  and  in  so 
far  were  legitimate  enough  ;  but  few  of  the  other  lordships  of 
Lombardy  had  so  good  a  title  as  they  :  the  Marquis  of  Ferrara 
had,  however,  a  sort  of  hereditary  right  drawn  from  long  signorial 
possession.  The  Scala  held  Verona  of  the  Empire,  but  what 
are  we  to  say  of  the  Carraresi  of  Padua,  the  Gonzaghi  of  Mantua, 
the  Rossi  and  Correggi  of  Parma,  the  Scotti  of  Piacenza  ?  Above 
all,  what  are  we  to  say  later  of  Francesco  Sforza  and  his  kind  ? 


THE  STORY  OF  MILAN  69 

him  in  the  lordship.  He  bought  Bologna  from  the  Papal 
Legate  for  200,000  florins,  made  war  on  Florence  and 
extended  his  dominion  as  far  as  Genoa.  Having 
Genoa  in  his  grip,  he  had  now  to  face  Venice  ;  he  equipped 
a  fleet  and  attacked  the  Venetians.  Then  suddenly 
without  warning  death  took  him.  His  great  lordship 
passed  to  his  three  nephews  :  to  Matteo  was  given 
Piacenza,  Parma,  Bologna,  Lodi  and  Bobbio;  to 
Bernabb,  Cremona,  Crema,  Brescia  and  Bergamo ; 
to  Galeazzo,  Como,  No  vara,  Vercelli,  Asti,  Tortona 
and  Alessandria.  The  death  of  the  great  archbishop 
seemed  to  offer  an  opportunity  to  these  subject  cities 
to  throw  off  the  Milanese  yoke,  and  it  took  Bernabo 
and  Galeazzo — Matteo  soon  died,  not  without  sus- 
picion of  foul  play — ^some  four  years  to  break  the 
revolt.  Galeazzo  died  in  1378,  and  his  son  Gian 
Galeazzo  succeeded  him.  Impatient  to  reign  alone,  he 
presently  flung  Bernabo  and  his  children  into  prison, 
where  they  ended  their  days.  Gian  Galeazzo  was 
physically  a  coward  and  rather  a  great  statesman  than 
a  general  or  leader.  From  the  security  of  Pavia,  how- 
ever, he  beat  down  every  other  lordship  in  Lombardy ; 
with  the  assistance  of  the  best  condottieri  of  his  time, 
Giacomo  dal  Verone,  for  instance,  Facino  Cane  and 
Alberigo  da  Barbiano,  he  broke  the  Scaligers  at  Verona 
and  Vicenza,  took  Padua  from  the  Carrara,  brought  the 
Gonzaga  of  Mantua,  the  Este  of  Ferrara  and  the  Marquis 
of  Montferrat  to  heel,  and  seemed  to  be  on  the  way  to 
establish  a  great  and  even  a  permanent  State  which 
would  at  last  direct  and  perhaps  absorb  all  Italy.  In 
1395  the  Emperor  gave  him  a  solemn  confirmation  of 
his  authority  in  Lombardy  and  the  title  of  Duke  of 
Milan,  admitting  him  among  the  great  feudatories  of 
the  Empire.  He  himself  had  married  the  daughter 
of  the  King  of  France,  and  his  sister  had  been  the 
bride  of  the  son  of  Edward  of  England.  In  the 
midst   of   his  success   death   took  him  in   1402.     He 


70  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

was  but  fifty  years  old.  It  is  to  him  Milan  owes  her 
Cathedral. 

Nothing  is  more  characteristic  of  all  the  despotisms 
of  Italy  than  the  fate  of  the  Visconti  house.  At  its 
highest  fortune  in  1402,  when  it  seemed  to  be  about 
to  absorb  the  richest  and  the  largest  part  of  Italy,  it 
suddenly  came  to  nothing.  Gian  Galeazzo's  elder  son, 
Giovanni  Maria,  succeeded  him  in  Milan ;  his  younger 
son,  Filippo  Maria,  reigned  in  Pa  via.  Giovanni  in  a 
reign  of  ten  years  lost  Bologna,  Perugia  and  Assisi  to 
the  Pope,  and  Verona,  Vicenza  and  Padua  to  Venice  ; 
while  Cremona,  Lodi  and  Piacenza  and  Siena  re- 
covered their  independence.  When  the  Milanese  nobles 
murdered  him  he  was  in  possession  only  of  his  capital. 
His  brother  entered  Milan  and  with  the  assistance  of 
Carmagnola,  the  best  condottiere  of  his  day,  he  managed 
to  regain  much  that  had  been  lost ;  but  he  could 
not  hold  Carmagnola,  whom  he  treated  with  extra- 
ordinary ingratitude  as  it  appears.  This  soldier 
placed  his  sword  at  the  service  of  Venice,  and  in 
that  cause  —  Venice  was  then  establishing  herself  on 
terra  firma — he  took  Brescia  from  Visconti  and,  later, 
routed  his  army.  When  Filippo  Maria  died,  in  the 
midst  of  the  war  in  1447,  the  race  of  the  Visconti  was 
extinct. 

The  death  of  the  last  Visconti  left  Milan  without  a 
master.  It  seemed  for  a  moment  as  though  she  would 
be  able  to  decide  what  form  of  government  she  would 
submit  to.  As  a  fact,  however,  this  choice  was  never 
hers.  The  Republican  form  to  which  she  leaned,  seeing 
the  success  of  Venice,  was,  save  in  Venice,  extinct  through- 
out Italy.  Even  in  Venice,  which  called  herself  a  Re- 
public, what  had  really  been  established  was  that  most 
ruthless  and  most  enduring  aristocratic  oligarchy  which 
we  established  in  England  in  the  seventeenth  century, 
and  which  has  endured  till  our  own  day.  Such  a  govern- 
ment cannot  be  built  up  in  a  few  months,  or  even  in  a 


THE  STORY  OF  MILAN  71 

single  generation,  nor  at  all  unless  a  long  period  of 
safety  from  foreign  interference  has  been  secured. 
Milan  had  but  a  few  months  at  most  in  which  to  estab- 
lish a  new  government,  and  she  was  in  the  midst  of  a 
war  with  the  most  powerful  State  in  Italy,  Venice. 
Thus  it  was  that  the  Ambrosian  Republic  was  fore- 
doomed to  fail. 

Almost  every  commune  in  Italy  had  been  captured 
by  the  Signori ;  everywhere  adventurers,  often  of  the 
meanest  birth,  marched  about  Italy  at  the  head  of  bodies 
of  mercenary  troops  looking  for  thrones.  Among  the 
basest,  but  also  among  the  strongest  of  these  adventurers, 
was  Francesco  Sforza,  who  had  carved  for  himself  out 
of  the  confusion  of  the  Marches  a  sort  of  lordship.  This 
soldier,  the  son  as  was  long  believed  of  a  peasant,  but 
as  recent  research  seems  to  prove  of  one  of  the  better 
sort  of  citizens  of  the  little  town  of  Cotignola,  had  in 
the  service  of  various  masters  proved  himself  a  fine 
soldier,  and  perhaps  a  better  statesman.  At  any  rate 
he  had,  after  years  of  service  and  blackmail,  persuaded 
Filippo  Maria  Visconti  to  give  him  his  illegitimate 
daughter  in  marriage.  This  and  this  alone  was  Sforza's 
claim  in  theory  to  the  throne  of  Milan.  That  he  was  able 
to  make  it  good  throws  a  lurid  light  upon  the  condition 
of  Italy.  Sforza  was  among  the  ablest  soldiers  of  his 
day,  and  Milan  needed  a  soldier  :  he  offered  himself 
and  his  troops  to  the  Republic  for  service ;  they 
were  accepted.  In  reality  that  decided  the  fate  of 
the  Republic,  and  the  result  was  secured  by  the 
nervousness  of  Florence  and  Venice,  both  of  which 
wished  to  see  for  their  own  sakes  a  stable  government 
in  Milan  :  neither  believed  in  the  endurance  of  the 
Republic. 

At  first  Sforza  wished  to  prove  to  Milan  how  useful 
he  could  be.  He  therefore  besieged  Piacenza  and  gave 
battle  to  the  Venetian  army  at  Mozzanica.  Victorious, 
he  turned  his  troops  against  Milan  in  1448,  investing 


72  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

the  city,  which  surrendered  at  discretion  and  in  fear  of 
famine.  The  adventurer  made  a  triumphal  entry,  and 
was  saluted  in  the  name  of  Prince  and  Duke. 

The  new  d5masty,  which  was  absolutely  illegitimate 
in  every  sense  of  the  word,  endured  for  eighty-five  years, 
and  produced  but  one  man  of  first -class  ability,  its 
founder,  Francesco  Sforza.  Venice  and  Florence  had 
been  right.  Sforza  gave  Milan  sixteen  years  of  peace, 
and  after  1454,  when  he  concluded  a  definite  treaty  with 
the  former,  he  seems  to  have  occupied  himself  solely 
with  the  enjoyment  and  the  enrichment  of  his  lordship. 
He  it  was  who  founded  and  built  the  Ospedale  Maggiore, 
rebuilt  the  Castello  originally  built  in  1368  by  Galeazzo 
Visconti  and  destroyed  by  the  Ambrosian  Republic, 
and  the  Palazzo  di  Corte,  where  the  Palazzo  Reale, 
built  in  1772,  now  stands.  His  successor,  Galeazzo 
(1466-76),  a  cruel  and  lustful  tyrant,  was  assassinated 
by  three  young  Milanese  nobles,  Olgiati,  Visconti  and 
Lampagnani.  It  is  his  death  that  brings  us  face  to  face 
with  reality. 

Why  had  Venice  and  Florence  been  so  anxious  to 
see  Milan  in  the  hands  of  a  strong  man  rather  than  at 
the  mercy  of  a  Republic  ?  That  question  was  now  to 
be  answered.  For  Galeazzo  Sforza's  widow.  Bona  di 
Savoia,  now  ruled  Milan  in  the  name  of  her  son,  Giovanni 
Galeazzo.  His  uncle,  Ludovico  il  Moro,  succeeded  in 
imprisoning  them,  and  to  give  himself  some  support, 
married  Beatrice  d'  Este  of  Ferrara,  and  gave  his  niece 
to  the  Emperor  Maximilian  in  marriage,  together  with 
400,000  ducats,  to  secure  Imperial  confirmation  of  his 
lordship.  Thinking  to  make  himself  still  more  secure, 
he  had  married  his  nephew  to  a  Neapolitan  princess. 
It  was  from  this  quarter  that  his  troubles  first  came. 
The  King  of  Naples  demanded  that  now  his  regency 
should  end,  since  his  nephew  was  of  age.  Ludovico, 
perhaps  at  the  suggestion  of  Beatrice,  looking  for  a 
way  out  and  uncertain  of  the  attitude  of  every  one,  and 


THE  STORY  OF  MILAN  73 

especially  of  Venice,  did  the  one  fatal  thing.  He  invited 
Charles  viii.  of  France  into  Italy  to  reclaim  the  kingdom 
of  Naples.  What  Florence  and  Venice  had  foreseen, 
and  hoped  to  avoid  in  urging  Francesco  Sforza  on  Milan, 
had  happened.  The  foreigner  had  come  in  :  a  national 
army  that  knew  how  to  fight,  not  in  the  manner  of  the 
later  condottieri,  but  in  the  manner  of  men,  crossed 
the  Alps,  and  once  more  Lombardy  and  Italy  were  to  be 
the  battlefield  of  the  principal  nations  of  Europe.  Let 
us  hesitate  a  moment  on  the  brink  of  this  appalling 
disaster  to  consider  the  strange  and  wonderful  brilliancy 
of  Ludovico's  court  before  his  fall.  His  subtle  rule  in 
Milan,  which  so  amazingly  overreached  itself,  marks 
the  most  brilliant  moment  in  all  the  history  of  the  city. 
The  French  were  not  the  only  "  foreigners "  that 
Ludovico  brought  into  Lombardy.  It  was  now  that 
Bramante  and  Leonardo  da  Vinci  came  to  his  splendid 
court,  illuminated  for  a  moment  the  whole  plain  by  their 
art,  so  strange  in  that  unimaginative  country.  Nor 
were  they  alone ;  with  them  we  find  Greeks  and  phil- 
osophers and  historians,  as  Merula,  Alciato  and  Corio. 
And  as  dying  things  will,  Milan  seems  just  then  to  have 
decked  herself  as  never  before,  and  for  her  funeral. 
It  was  now  that  S.  Maria  delle  Grazie  was  built  and 
painted,  the  cloister  of  the  Ospedale  Maggiore  arose, 
the  Monastery  of  S.  Ambrogio  and  the  church  of 
S.  Celso.  Then  suddenly,  in  1494,  the  army  of  the 
King  of  France  crossed  the  Alps,  and  from  that  hour 
till  the  year  1859  Lombardy  ceased  to  be  a  province 
of  Italy. 

Let  us  consider  these  years  as  briefly  as  may  be. 

From  1494  to  1535  Lombardy  was  at  the  mercy  of 
France  and  Spain,  governed  in  turn  by  Gaston  de  Foix, 
by  Gonsalvo  da  Cordoba,  by  Lautrec,  by  Lannoy,  by 
the  Constable  Bourbon,  by  Antonio  de  Leyva,  by 
Freundesberg,  and  by  the  Cardinal  Sion.  In  1494  the 
capital  of  a  great    State,  in   1535   Milan   was   ruined 


74  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

in  finance,  diminished  in  population,  and  ruled  by  a 
foreigner  as  the  capital  of  a  mere  province.  What 
had  befallen  her  in  brief  was  this :  Ludovico  il  Moro, 
who  had  called  Charles  viii.  of  France  into  Italy 
against  Naples,  soon  perceived  his  mistake,  and  already 
in  1495  had  betrayed  his  ally.  Had  the  Italian 
League  known  how  to  use  an  army,  or  had  it  even 
known  what  an  army  was,  Charles  viii.  might  easily 
have  been  crushed  at  Fornovo  as  he  crossed  the 
Apennines.  As  it  was — for  no  such  thing  as  a  national 
army  had  existed  for  nearly  a  thousand  years  in  Italy, 
nor  for  a  long  time  had  the  Italians  known  how 
to  fight  —  as  it  was,  he  escaped.  In  the  campaign 
the  French  learned  the  invincible  character  of  national 
troops  when  opposed  to  the  mercenary  soldiery  em- 
ployed by  the  Italian  City  States.  Charles  marched 
homeward,  but  Louis  xii.  returned,  and  Louis  xii. 
remembered  the  will  of  the  last  Visconti,  and  put 
forward  a  claim  with  some  show  of  legitimacy  to  Milan. 
What  had  Ludovico  to  say  to  that  ?  He  could  say 
nothing,  and  what  was  far  more  to  the  purpose  he  could 
do  nothing ;  his  soldiery,  for  they  were  not  troops, 
were  as  corn  before  the  sharp  sickle  of  the  King  of 
France,  and  by  the  year  1500  Ludovico  had  lost  lordship, 
liberty,  all.  Milan  was  occupied  by  the  French  till  151 1, 
when  the  Switzers  in  the  service  of  Julius  11.  wrested  it 
from  them  for  a  moment.  In  1512,  under  Gaston  de 
Foix,  they  returned,  and,  checked,  they  returned  again 
in  the  following  year.  Then,  after  the  battle  of  No  vara, 
they  abandoned  it.  For  a  new  claimant  was  in  the  field, 
no  less  an  one  than  the  Emperor.  From  15 15  to  1525 
Milan  and  Lombardy  became  the  battlefield  of  Charles  v. 
and  Francis  i.  Francis  occupied  Milan  after  the 
battle  of  Marignano  in  1515,  but  was  turned  out  by 
Charles  in  the  same  year,  and  in  spite  of  a  vain  attempt 
of  Francis  to  retake  it,  when  he  was  defeated  and 
captured  at  Pa  via  in  1525,  the  city  remained  thence- 


THE  STORY  OF  MILAN  75 

forward  in  the  possession  of  Charles,  who  in  1530  was 
crowned,  by  Pope  Clement  vii.,  Duke  of  Milan,  King 
of  Lombardy  and  Emperor  of  the  Romans  at  Bologna. 
He  appointed  as  his  Governor  in  Lombardy  Antonio  de 
Leyva. 

The  Spanish  dominance  thus  established  lasted  for 
nearly  two  centuries,  till  1713.  It  had  for  results  the 
disappearance  of  all  liberty,  whether  individual  or  politi- 
cal, and  the  appearance  of  every  sort  of  corruption  and 
public  and  private  immorality.  Bands  of  bravi,  of 
highwaymen,  used  the  roads,  and  even  the  streets,  to  hold 
up  anyone  worth  robbing,  or  against  whom  they  had  a 
private  hatred.  In  all  these  long  years  Milan  and  Lom- 
bardy are  sterile  of  great  men,  of  ideas,  or  any  achieve- 
ment, and  to  this  barrenness  there  are  only  the  exceptions 
of  the  two  archbishops,  S.  Carlo  Borromeo  and  his 
nephew  Federigo.  The  first,  Cardinal  at  the  age  of 
twenty-three  and  Archbishop  of  Milan  at  twenty-seven, 
devoted  his  whole  life  to  the  task  of  reform,  both  ecclesi- 
astical and  civil,  and  in  the  plague  of  1576  showed  an 
heroic  personal  devotion  to  his  people.  He  has  been 
reproached  with  a  bitterness  towards  heresy ;  but 
apart  from  the  fact  that  his  duty  demanded  severity 
and  a  ceaseless  watchfulness,  while  it  must  not  be  for- 
gotten that  his  own  life  was  attempted,  his  rule  appears 
to  have  shown  an  example  of  justice  and  moderation 
beyond  anything  that  his  enemies  deserved  or  even 
themselves  practised.  His  nephew,  Federigo  (1564- 
1631),  was  his  worthy  successor.  More  diplomatic  than 
the  Saint,  he  established  with  the  civil  power  the  Con- 
cordat of  1615,  and  fifteen  years  later  showed  the  same 
devotion  in  the  plague  as  his  uncle  had  done  in  1576. 

In  the  time  of  the  Borromei,  and  largely  owing  to 
their  efforts,  and  even  to  their  money,  Milan  was  trans- 
formed in  appearance.  In  1555  she  had  been  surrounded 
by  a  new  fortification,  and  later  the  Palace  of  Justice 
had  been  built  and  the   Canal  di  Pavia  constructed. 


76  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

New  palaces,  and  new  churches  too,  now  sprang  up,  and 
to  Federigo  we  owe  the  foundation  of  what  is  known 
as  the  Ambrosian  Library.  These  splendours,  such  as 
they  were,  were  the  last  efforts  of  the  national  aristo- 
cracy. A  new  and  more  efficient  foreigner  was  about 
to  administer  Lombardy ;  for  the  War  of  Succession, 
ending  in  the  Peace  of  Utrecht,  had  for  result  the 
substitution  throughout  the  great  plain  of  Austria  for 
Spain. 

In  1713,  Prince  Eugene  of  Savoy,  the  comrade  of 
Marlborough,  became  the  first  Governor  of  the  province 
for  the  Emperor  Charles  vi.  During  the  wars  Milan,  and 
indeed  all  Lombardy,  were  continually  at  the  mercy  of 
the  various  armies  which  disputed  the  possession  of 
Italy,  and  from  1733-36  the  city  was  occupied  by  the 
King  of  Sardinia,  Charles  Emmanuel  in.  The  Treaty 
of  Aix-la-Chapelle  in  1748,  however,  brought  her  a 
lasting  peace,  which  endured  till  the  revolutionary 
wars  of  Napoleon.  This  period  of  fifty  years  was 
perhaps  the  most  happy  and  the  most  fruitful  that 
the  city  had  known.  Under  a  wise  administration 
her  wealth  vastly  increased.  There  was  no  city  in 
Europe  where  life  was  more  delightful  and  less  sordid. 
Then  suddenly,  and  almost  without  warning,  on  May  13, 
1796,  Napoleon  entered  Milan.  The  irruption  of 
Napoleon  into  Italy  brought  Milan  at  first  much  evil. 
She  had  to  endure  four  invasions,  and  during  more  than 
a  year,  1796-97,  to  provision  the  French  army  and  to  pay 
enormous  fines  in  kind ;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  she 
presently  became  the  capital  of  the  greatest  State  ever 
founded  upon  Italian  soil  since  the  fall  of  the  Empire, 
a  State  which  included  Lombardy,  Emilia  and  Romagna, 
and  which  Napoleon  named  the  Cisalpine  Republic. 
This  new  state  of  affairs,  so  wonderfully  established,  was 
scarcely  interrupted  by  the  Austro- Russian  invasion  of 
May  1799,  when  for  more  than  a  year  Milan  was  occupied 
by  the  army  of  Suvorov  and  endured  very  considerable 


THE  STORY  OF  MILAN  77 

hardships.  In  1800  she  greeted  with  joy  the  return  of 
Napoleon,  who  at  Lyons  in  1802  confirmed  the  organisa- 
tion and  estabUshment  of  the  Cisalpine — now  the  Italian 
— Republic  in  its  former  limits  under  his  own  presidency, 
appointing  as  Vice-President  a  Milanese  noble,  Melzi. 
Milan  once  more,  as  in  Visconti's  time,  began  to  dream  of 
bringing  all  Italy  within  her  rule  and  influence,  and 
when  Napoleon  transformed  the  Italian  Republic  into 
the  kingdom  of  Italy,  and  received  the  Iron  Crown  in 
her  Duomo  on  May  26,  1805,  and  established  his  son-in- 
law,  Eugdne  de  Beauhamais,  as  Viceroy,  this  very  thing 
seemed  within  her  grasp.  For  in  1806  Venetia  was 
added  unto  her,  in  1808  the  Marches,  in  1810  Tyrol,  and 
her  subjects  numbered  more  than  six  million  souls,  a 
population  about  two -thirds  that  of  the  United  Kingdom 
at  that  time. 

Under  the  earlier  Austrian  domination  Milan  had 
been  embellished  by  many  a  fine  building ;  it  was 
then  that  Piermarini  had  built  the  Scala  Theatre, 
the  Piazza  Fontana  and  the  Palazzo  Belgiojoso. 
Under  Napoleon  her  Castello  was  rebuilt  and  sur- 
rounded by  the  great  promenade  Foro  Buonaparte, 
the  facade  of  the  Duomo  was  finished,  the  Palazzo 
Reale  built,  the  amphitheatre  of  the  Arena  con- 
structed, and  the  Arc  de  Triomphe  du  Simplon  built 
in  honour  of  the  man  who  had  said  "  There  shall  be  no 
Alps,"  and  had  built  "  his  perfect  roads  climbing  by 
graded  galleries  the  steepest  precipices  of  the  moun- 
tains, until  Italy  was  as  open  to  Paris  as  any  town  in 
France." 

The  fall  of  Napoleon  was  the  end  of  all  this  splendour 
and  happiness.  Austria  once  more  marched  in,  and  the 
Congress  of  Vienna  restored  to  her  Lombardy  and 
Venetia,  Milan  becoming  the  capital  not  of  a  kingdom 
but  of  a  province.  This  new  rule  of  Austria  endured 
for  thirty-four  years.  That  it  was  a  bad  rule,  an 
absolutist    regime,   destroying  all  initiative   and  per- 


78  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

secuting  all  independent  thought,  cannot  be  denied. 
Nevertheless,  though  it  is  essy  to  make  out  a  formidable 
indictment  against  Austria  for  her  treatment  of  her 
Italian  subjects,  more  especially  after  the  revolution  of 
1848, — and  all  the  modern  historians  do  not  scruple  to 
pile  up  the  horrors  with  gusto, — it  cannot  be  denied 
that  Austria  had  rights  in  Lombardy,  rights  which  had 
been  exercised  for  very  many  years. 

The  revolution  of  1848  in  Vienna  gave  the  Lombards, 
and  more  especially  the  Piedmontese,  the  chance  they 
had  long  hoped  for.  After  five  days  of  fighting  in 
March,  Radetzky  was  forced  to  withdraw.  A  pro- 
visional government  in  Milan  called  in  the  Savoyards, 
and  Milan  was  occupied  by  the  troops  of  Piedmont : 
by  561,000  to  68  the  Lombards  voted  for  a  fusion  with 
that  State.  On  August  5,  however,  after  Charles 
Albert  had  been  beaten  at  Custozza,  the  Austrians 
reoccupied  the  city.  The  means  they  then  took  to 
hold  their  Empire  together  must  be  ascribed  to  a 
general  and  perhaps  ineradicable  incapacity  for  the 
government  of  subject  peoples  which  we  find  through 
all  the  ages  characteristically  German,  and  which  has 
successfully  prevented  for  more  than  a  thousand 
years  the  permanent  establishment  of  a  German 
Empire  outside  the  Teutonic  provinces.  For  you 
can  only  govern  men,  as  Rome  governed  them, 
and  as  we  have  tried  to  do,  with  their  consent 
and  by  making  it  worth  their  while  to  admit  your 
government.  When  Austria  entered  Milan  in  August 
1848,  it  was  for  eleven  years  only,  and  every  one  of 
those  years  was  a  year  of  siege.  The  country  was 
taxed  to  within  an  inch  of  its  life,  and  all  suspected 
of  nationalism  ruthlessly  suppressed.  In  1855,  when, 
under  the  Archduke  Maximilian,  a  better  and  milder 
system  was  established,  it  was  already  too  late  ;  no  one 
could  be  found  to  rally  to  the  support  of  the  established 
order,  for  all  eyes  were  irrevocably  fixed  on  Piedmont. 


THE  STORY  OF  MILAN  79 

At  last,  on  June  8,  1859,  after  the  battle  of  Magenta, 
the  Germans  were  once  more  flung  back  across  the 
Alps,  let  us  hope  for  ever,  and  Victor  Emmanuel  and 
Napoleon  iii.  solemnly  entered  Milan.  A  month  later, 
at  Villafranca,  Milan  was  ceded  to  the  Piedmontese. 


CHAPTER   V 
MILAN 

S.  AMBROGIO 

I  SUPPOSE  that  in  all  Italy  there  is  no  other  city 
so  essentially  un-Italian  as  Milan :  which  yet 
at  every  turn  continually  reminds  you  of  her  Latin 
origin.  The  true  explanation  of  this  paradox  might 
seem  to  be  that  Milan  is  the  only  town  in  Italy  which, 
in  the  modern  sense,  is  a  great  city  at  all :  she  alone  is 
as  thoroughly  alive,  as  full  of  business,  as  miserable 
and  as  restless  as  the  great  cities  of  the  North  ;  she 
alone  is  wholly  without  a  sense  of  ancient  order  and 
peace  ;  she  alone  is  inexhaustible,  a  monstrous  confusion 
of  old  and  new,  of  wretchedness  and  prosperity,  of 
vulgar  wealth  and  extreme  poverty ;  she  alone,  in  her 
hurried  success,  her  astonishing  movement,  her  bewilder- 
ment and  her  melancholy,  has  given  herself  without  an 
afterthought  to  the  modern  world. 

With  this  modem  city,  then,  whose  sound  is  the 
sound  of  iron  upon  iron,  whose  skies  are  a  battlefield, 
and  whose  name  everywhere  in  Italy  is  a  synonym  for 
"  progress,"  this  book,  and  rightly,  will  have  nothing 
to  do.  There  is  £is  little  to  be  said  of  any  abiding 
moment  for  the  traveller  concerning  it,  as  there  would 
be,  for  one  who  was  bent  on  exploring  England, 
concerning  Manchester :  as  little  and  as  much.  For 
both  are  experiments  in  a  new  sort  of  life,  which  the 

best  philosophers  happily  assure  us  is  but  a  transition 

80 


MILAN  :   S.  AMBROGIO  8i 

to  another  and  certainly  a  better  ;  they  are  the  creations 
of  what  we  know  as  IndustriaUsm,  and  neither  the  one 
nor  the  other  has  yet  a  hundred  years  behind  it. 

Milan,  however, — and  therefore  it  figures  in  this  book, 
— unlike  Manchester,  holds  half  forgotten  within  its 
modern  confusion  many  abiding  and  a  few  beautiful 
things  that  have  already  endured  for  more  than  a 
thousand  years.  These  are  our  friends  :  they  are  in 
a  very  real  sense  a  part  of  us,  a  part  of  our  spiritual 
inheritance,  and  if  our  civilisation  is  to  endure,  whatever 
changes  it  may  suffer,  it  seems  to  me  these  can  never 
utterly  pass  away. 

In  reading  the  history  of  the  Empire  what  often 
strikes  us  is  the  age  and  the  importance  of  two  Italian 
cities,  Rome  and  Milan,  which  to-day,  as  fifteen  hundred 
years  ago,  seem,  on  our  smaller  stage,  still  to  face  each 
other  ;  for  the  one  is  the  political,  the  other  the  com- 
mercial, capital  of  the  new  Italian  kingdom.  Yet,  of 
course,  Milan  owed  everything  to  Rome  in  her  genesis, 
and  when  she  first  appears  in  the  page  of  our  history 
it  is  as  a  Roman  city  we  recognise  her,  Mediolanum, 
destined  for  greatness. 

Her  greatness,  for  she  was  perhaps  the  very  greatest 
of  all  the  great  cities  of  the  plain  in  the  time  of  the 
Roman  Empire,  her  vast  importance  at  the  foot  of 
more  than  one  great  pass  over  the  Alps,  and  the  un- 
appeasable and  Latin  energy  of  her  always  great  popula- 
tion have  all  indirectly  contributed  to  deprive  her  of 
everything  but  a  fragment  which  would  have  assured 
us  of  her  glory  and  her  splendour  in  Roman  days. 
First  Uraias  the  Goth  in  539,  and  then,  and  more 
utterly,  Frederick  Barbarossa  in  1162,  sacked  and 
destroyed  her ;  so  that  of  the  capital  of  Maximian 
Hercules,  of  Constantine,  of  S.  Ambrose,  of  Valentinian 
and  of  Honorius  almost  nothing  remains  but  those 
sixteen  columns  of  white  marble  in  the  midst  of  the 
Corso  di  Porta  Ticinese,  which  come  to  us,  perhaps, 
6 


82  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

from  the  third  century,  and  are  all  that  is  left  of  the 
great  Baths  of  Mediolanum,  or,  as  some  have  it,  but 
with  less  assurance,  of  the  Palace  of  the  Emperor. 

I  suppose  no  one  can  pass  those  giant  columns  to-day, 
in  all  the  hurry  of  the  street,  without  emotion;  they 
stand  there  in  the  midst  of  the  modern  meanness  more 
eloquent  than  any  pyramid,  or  the  gaunt  and  deserted 
towns  of  the  plateau  of  Africa.  Those  have  remem- 
bered and  borne  witness  only  in  a  solitude,  but  these 
in  the  midst  of  life  and  the  face  of  the  conqueror.  Nor 
can  anything  anywhere  in  Italy  bring  home  to  one  with 
a  more  painful  conviction  the  contrast  between  the 
majesty  and  the  endurance  that  were  of  old  and  the 
trumpery  and  ephemeral  contrivances  of  to-day  than 
those  pillars  constantly  do  as  one  passes  them,  well, 
in  a  tramcar  on  our  way,  let  us  say,  to  the  famous 
Galleria  Vittorio  Emanuele. 

And  yet  I  must  confess  that  the  one  certain  and 
enduring  impression  I  always  receive  in  Milan  does  not 
come  to  me  from  these  beautiful  and  lonely  columns, 
but  from  a  church,  the  Church  of  S.  Ambrogio,  which 
for  all  that  it  is  a  building  of  the  ninth  century  and  of  the 
twelfth,  carries  me  back  at  once  to  what  often  seems 
to  me  the  most  wonderful,  as  it  is  certainly  the  most 
fundamental,  of  those  centuries  upon  which  Christendom 
has  stood  so  strong  ;  I  mean  the  last  century  before  the 
Barbarian  invasion,  the  fourth  of  our  era. 

That  wonderful  and  so  fruitful  age,  so  strangely 
neglected  and  so  wilfully  misjudged  by  our  historians, 
is  here  in  Milan,  and  especially  in  S.  Ambrogio,  brought 
vividly  before  us  by  the  memory  of  the  great  Saint 
who  dominated  it,  and  whose  shrine,  rightly  understood, 
the  beautiful  Church  of  S.  Ambrogio,  remains  to  this 
day. 

I  suppose  that  to  most  men  S.  Ambrose  appears,  if 
at  all,  first  as  one  of  the  Four  Doctors  of  the  Latin 
Church,  and  then  as  a  divine  poet,  the  author  for  instance 


MILAN  :  S.  AMBROGIO  83 

of  the  lovely  Christmas  hymn,  Jesn  Redemptor  Omnium, 
which  coming  to  us  faintly  in  the  early  twilight  on 
Christmas  Eve,  presently  in  the  midnight  hour  fills  all 
the  sky  and  mingles  itself  with  the  song  of  the  angels. 
One  remembers  him,  too,  as  the  author  of  the  ritual 
which  bears  his  name,  and  of  a  certain  manner  of 
chanting  named  after  him,  and  more  especially  perhaps 
as  the  Bishop  who  received  S.  Augustine  into  the  Church, 
who  baptized  him  and,  as  it  is  said,  composed  with 
him  in  antiphon  the  most  wonderful  of  those  proses 
which  are  wholly  Christian  in  their  origin,  the  Te  Deum. 

But  S.  Ambrose  was  something  beside  a  poet,  he  was 
a  very  great  man  of  action  and  a  Saint.  On  his  lips 
we  hear  not  only  the  loveliest  lines  of  Christian  poetry, 
then  at  last  come  to  perfection,  but  the  most  significant 
words  of  an  age  at  least  as  subtle  as  our  own.  Rightly 
understood,  the  whole  of  S.  Ambrose's  life  was  devoted 
to  the  establishment  of  Europe,  of  Christendom,  that  it 
might  endure.  He  was  not  only  sure  of  himself,  he 
was  sure  of  what  he  achieved.  As  the  great  enemy  of 
Arianism,  he  was  not  merely  combating  what  our 
indifferent  age  would  consider  a  matter  of  mere  opinion 
in  an  incomprehensible  theology,  he  was  laying  with 
the  utmost  forethought  and  intention  the  indestruc- 
tible foundations  of  European  society  and  civilisation, 
that  the  flood  which  was  about  to  sweep  all  else  away 
might  not  overwhelm  them.  Out  of  the  ruins  of  the 
Empire  we  have  constructed  Europe,  because  he  and 
the  Church  he  served  secured  those  foundations  which 
are  the  vast  monoliths  of  the  Nicene  Creed. 

Of  the  Milan  of  the  fourth  century,  of  the  latter  part 
of  the  fourth  century,  then  the  capital  of  the  West  and 
in  many  respects  the  most  important  city  in  the  Empire, 
S.  Ambrose  may  be  said  to  have  been  Father ;  yet  he 
was  not  born  there,  but  in  Gaul,  where  his  father,  whose 
name  also  was  Ambrose,  was  Prefect  of  the  Praetorium, 
an   office   which   gave   him   jurisdiction,   not   only   in 


84  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

France,  but  also  in  parts  of  Italy  and  Germany  and 
throughout  Roman  Britain,  in  Spain  and  parts  of 
Africa.  This  great  officer  had  three  children,  all  of 
whom  became  Saints  :  Marcellina,  the  eldest,  a  nun ; 
Satyrus,  who  spent  his  life  in  his  brother's  service  ;  and 
Ambrose,  the  Archbishop. 

Ambrose  was  born  in  340,  and  entered  life  in  that 
great  last  century  of  the  full  and  unhampered  govern- 
ment of  Rome.  A  story  is  told  of  his  childhood,  that 
as  he  lay  asleep  in  one  of  the  courts  of  his  father's 
palace,  a  swarm  of  bees  flew  about  his  cradle,  and  some 
of  them  crept  in  and  out  of  his  mouth,  and  then  mounted 
suddenly  up  into  the  air  so  high  that  they  vanished 
out  of  sight.  From  this  was  argued  a  future  greatness. 
His  father  died  when  he  was  still  a  child,  and  his  mother 
returned  to  Rome  with  her  children,  for  it  was  her 
native  city.  There  Ambrose  received  his  education, 
and  presently  proceeded  with  his  brother  to  Milan,  then 
the  seat  of  the  Praetorium  and  the  centre  of  administra- 
tion in  the  West :  there  they  pleaded  in  the  courts,  and 
Ambrose  rose  to  high  office  in  the  State,  becoming  at 
length  Governor  of  Liguria  and  ^Emilia,  a  vast  juris- 
diction. Now  Auxentius,  an  Arian,  had  usurped  the 
see  of  Milan  for  near  twenty  years,  when  suddenly,  in 
374,  he  died.  A  vast  tumult  reigned  in  the  city  about 
the  new  election,  for  the  people  as  well  as  the  clergy 
were  distracted  by  furious  parties,  some  demanding  an 
Arian,  some  a  Catholic,  for  their  Bishop.  To  prevent 
riot,  Ambrose  thought  it  to  be  his  duty  to  go  into  the 
church  where  the  matter  was  to  be  decided  and  to 
make  an  oration  counselling  peace.  While  he  was 
speaking  a  child  suddenly  cried  out,  "  Ambrose  is 
Bishop  !  "  This  the  whole  assembly  took  up,  and  both 
parties  together  proclaimed  him  Bishop  indeed.  Where- 
upon he  stole  away  and  made  his  escape  and  hid 
himself,  and  when  the  Vicar  of  Italy  caused  him  to  be 
found,  he  yet  protested  that  he  was  not  even  baptized, 


MILAN  :   S.  AMBROGIO  85 

and  declared  that  the  canons  forbade  one  who  was 
but  a  catechumen  to  be  promoted  to  the  priesthood. 
Yet  this  did  not  avail  him,  for  he  was  answered  and 
truly  that  the  canons  gave  way  before  an  election  by 
Grace.  He  was  therefore  baptized,  and  after  due 
preparation  consecrated  Bishop  on  December  7,  374, 
the  day  on  which  the  Church  still  keeps  his  feast.  He 
was  then  about  thirty- four  years  old. 

Ambrose  no  sooner  became  Bishop  than  he  committed 
the  care  of  all  his  temporalities  to  his  brother  Satyrus 
and  gave  himself  up  to  God  and  the  care  of  his  province. 
He  had  scarce  been  Bishop  five  years,  however,  when  he 
lost  Satyrus,  who,  attempting  to  go  to  Africa  on  his 
brother's  business,  was  shipwi-ecked,  and  not  being 
baptized,  desired  some  on  board  to  give  him  the  Blessed 
Sacrament  to  carry  with  him  as  he  swam  for  his  life  ; 
for  it  was  then  the  custom  for  the  faithful  to  carry  It 
with  them  on  long  voyages,  that  they  might  not  be 
deprived  of  It  at  last.  No  one,  however,  who  was  un- 
baptized  was  allowed  to  see  the  Holy  Species,  therefore 
Satyrus  begged  It  wrapped  in  a  napkin.  With  this 
about  him,  he  flung  himself  into  the  sea,  and  came  first 
to  land.  There  he  sought  baptism,  but  would  not 
receive  it  then  at  the  hands  of  an  Arian  —  and  the 
Bishop's  name  was  Lucifer — but  coming  into  a  Catholic 
province,  thankfully  received  it,  and,  as  Ambrose 
affirms,  never  forfeited  the  grace  of  that  sacrament, 
for  he  died  soon  after  his  return  to  Milan  in  the 
arms  of  Ambrose  and  Marcellina.  He  was  presently 
canonised,  and  the  Church  keeps  his  feast  on  17th 
September. 

It  is  impossible  to  give  any  real  impression  of  what 
the  rule  of  Ambrose  was  in  Milan,  or  even,  in  such  a 
book  as  this,  of  the  Milan  of  that  day.  The  most  gentle 
of  men,  full  of  charity,  learned  and  wise,  he  was  yet  a 
great  statesman  and  a  saint :  his  government  passes 
before  our  eyes  to  the  constant  clash  of  arms,  amid 


86  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

innumerable  tumults,  as  when  barricaded  in  the  Portian 
Basilica,  surrounded  by  thousands  of  the  people  of 
Milan,  he  is  compelled  to  face  and  to  resist  the  demands 
of  Justina  the  Empress,  who  with  her  young  son 
Valentinian  were  Arians,  and  therefore  the  enemies 
not  of  Ambrose  only  but  of  the  Commonwealth.  They 
demanded  a  church  in  that  Milan  which  Ambrose  had 
purged  of  heresy.  He  was  adamant.  "My  gold  and 
my  silver,  nay  my  life,  ask  and  they  are  yours ;  but  the 
churches  of  God  are  not  mine  to  give."  Such  was  his 
invariable  answer. 

Later,  when  this  quarrel  is  ended,  and  by  a  miracle, 
we  see  him  facing  as  resolutely  his  friend  the  great 
Theodosius  when,  unpurged  of  his  blood-guiltiness  in 
the  affair  of  Thessalonica,  when  seven  thousand  men, 
women  and  children  were  butchered  by  his  orders — 
orders  he  repented  too  late — ^he  would  gain  admission 
to  the  church.  Ambrose  shuts  the  doors  in  his  face, 
refuses  him  admittance  into  any  church  in  Milan,  and 
finally  receives  the  penitent  Emperor  and  absolves  him. 

It  was  about  the  time  when  the  struggle  with  Justina 
and  the  Imperial  house  was  at  its  height  that  S.  Am- 
brose built  and  consecrated  the  Basilica  of  S.  Ambrogio, 
a  church  upon  whose  foundations  that  of  S.  Ambrose 
stands  to-day,  one  of  the  most  beautiful  and  precious 
treasures  of  this  inexhaustible  city. 

S.  Augustine,  who  was  in  Milan  at  the  time,  bears 
witness  that  the  people,  in  accordance  with  custom,  urged 
Ambrose  to  bury  relics  of  the  martyrs  under  the  new 
altar ;  and  in  consequence  he,  directed  according  to 
Augustine  by  a  dream,  caused  the  ground  to  be  opened 
in  the  church  of  S.  Nabor.  Thence  he  drew  out  two 
skeletons  of  great  size,  the  head  of  each  separated  from 
the  body.  That  these  were  the  bodies  of  martyrs  it 
seemed  impossible  to  doubt,  and  presently  their  names 
were  remembered — S.  Gervasius  and  S.  Protasius. 
If  any  doubts  remained,  they  were  set  at  rest  when,  on 


MILAN  :   S.  AMBROGIO  87 

June  18,  these  bodies  were  borne  to  the  new  church, 
and  on  the  way  a  blind  man  who  touched  the  bier, 
one  Severus,  a  butcher,  known  to  all,  received  his  sight. 
So  great  indeed  was  the  impression  made  by  this  miracle 
that  from  that  day  we  read  the  Empress  Justina  left 
Ambrose  alone. 

Then  S.  Ambrose  founded  his  new  church  and 
dedicated  it  to  SS.  Gervasius  and  Protasius.  It  was, 
of  course,  a  building  of  the  fourth  century.  Nothing 
would  seem  to  remain  of  this  building  which  Uraias  the 
Goth  probably  destroyed.  The  present  church,  under 
the  dedication  of  S.  Ambrose,  who  lies  there  between 
S.  Gervasius  and  S.  Protasius  under  the  high  altar, 
dates  in  part  from  the  ninth  century,  when  it  was  re- 
founded  by  another  Archbishop  of  Milan,  Aspertus : 
much  of  the  building,  however,  would  seem  to  belong 
to  the  twelfth  century.  Nevertheless,  we  have  in  S. 
Ambrogio  not  only  the  oldest  ecclesiastical  building  in 
Milan,  but  a  church  which,  in  spite  of  rebuilding  and 
the  restorations  of  Cardinal  Federigo  Borromeo  and  of 
our  own  time,  recalls  us  in  its  plan  certainly  to  very 
early  times,  and  remains  one  of  the  most  beautiful  and 
interesting  buildings  in  Italy, 

Before  the  western  fagade  of  the  church  is  set  a  vast 
atrium,  very  like  a  cloister  with  roofed  walks  on  the  four 
sides,  the  roofs  upheld  by  pillars  on  the  inside,  and  walled 
about.  Here  the  catechumens  were  gathered  for  in- 
struction and  for  reception  into  the  Church,  more 
especially  on  the  vigils  of  Easter  and  of  Pentecost.^ 
Who  knows  whether  S.  Austin  did  not  linger  here  and 
pray,  before  S.  Ambrose  baptized  him  in  the  font  of 
this  church  ?  All  about  the  atrium  are  set  Christian 
inscriptions  and  fragments  perhaps  of  the  old  fourth- 
century  building. 

The  church  seen  from  this  roofed  atrium  is  beautiful 

^  For  a  full  account  of  this  see  my  Venice  and  Venetia  (Methuen, 
191 1),  pp.  52  et  seq. 


88  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

and  very  remarkable  with  its  double  porticoes  one  above 
the  other.  If  the  interior  is  at  first  disappointing,  it 
is  the  fault  of  restoration.  What  we  see,  in  fact,  is  a 
church,  in  its  nave  of  the  twelfth,  in  its  sanctuary 
and  tribunes  of  the  ninth  century ;  a  rather  dark,  but 
not  a  gloomy  building,  that  grows  lovelier  while  one 
looks  at  it.  It  is  a  simple  basilica  upheld  by  vast  round 
arches  of  brick  carried  by  great  pillars,  between  which 
galleries  are  set  borne  by  other  round  arches  of  brick- 
work. The  church  thus  consists  of  three  aisles  ending 
in  tribunes.  The  nave  is  thrice  crossed  by  great  arches 
which  divide  the  roof  as  it  were  into  three  blind  domes. 
Beyond  these  the  sanctuary  is  covered  by  an  exquisite 
open  lantern,  so  that  a  flood  of  light  falls  upon  the 
beautiful  baldacchino  and  high  altar  and  is  thrown 
upon  the  mosaics  in  the  half  gloom  of  the  tribune. 
Here,  high  above  a  crypt,  the  choir  is  set  in  the  semicircle 
of  the  apse. 

As  one  enters  the  church  from  the  atrium,  the  doors 
are  to  be  noted.  Three  small  panels  of  wood  at  their 
top,  enclosed  in  ironwork,  are  probably  the  oldest  things 
in  the  church.  They  come  from  the  old  Church  of  S. 
Vittore,  now  destroyed,  and  are  said  to  be  a  part  of  those 
S.  Ambrose  closed  in  the  face  of  Theodosius. 

Something  nearly  as  old,  however,  remains  to  us  in 
the  Cappella  di  S.  Satiro  (the  brother  of  S.  Ambrose), 
which  is  reached  from  the  right  aisle.  There  in  the  dome 
is  a  mosaic,  restored  it  is  true,  but  dating  from  the  fifth 
century  ;  while  beneath  stands  an  altar  with  a  fine  and 
very  early  relief  in  marble  and  a  piece  of  mosaic  which 
came  from  the  old  fourth -century  church  that  S.  Ambrose 
built  here. 

The  only  notable  thing  left  to  us  in  the  nave  of  the 
church  where  the  Lombard  kings  and  the  emperors 
were  crowned  is  the  pulpit,  which  in  part  consists  of  an 
early  Christian  sarcophagus  finely  carved.  The  bronze 
eagle  for  holding  the  book  of  the  Gospels  is  a  Byzantine 


;,, «  .    '.'  .  *. i 


*    *,  »    3      > 


■3  « 


MILAN  :   S.  AMBROGIO  89 

work  of  the  tenth  century,  the  other  figures  of  the 
twelfth. 

Beyond  the  sanctuary  and  the  lovely  baldacchino  in 
the  dim  light  of  the  tribune  the  great  mosaic  shines. 
Under  it,  in  the  choir,  we  have  the  only  relic,  save  his 
body,  of  S.  Ambrose  in  the  church,  his  archiepiscopal 
throne.  On  that  very  throne  the  great  archbishop  sat 
surrounded  by  his  eighteen  suffragans. 

Above  shines  the  mosaic  in  its  dim  gold  :  Christ 
enthroned  in  the  midst  between  the  two  archangels 
Michael  and  Gabriel,  and  on  either  side  His  throne 
S.  Gervasius  and  S.  Protasius,  and  beneath  it  half- 
figures  of  S.  Marcellina,  S.  Satiro,  the  sister  and  brother 
of  S.  Ambrose,  and  S.  Candida.  On  either  side  appear 
S.  Ambrogio  of  Milan  and  the  Cathedral  of  Tours  ; 
in  the  one  S.  Ambrose  is  saying  Mass,  in  the  other  he 
appears  as  he  did  in  a  vision  at  the  funeral  of  S.  Martin. 
This  part  of  the  church  would  seem  certainly  to  be  of 
the  ninth  century,  and  it  is  interesting,  and  perhaps 
instructive,  to  note  the  mixed  Greek  and  Latin  of  the 
inscriptions  in  the  mosaic. 

The  lovely  marble  screen  of  the  choir  might  seem, 
too,  very  early  work,  while  the  exquisite  baldacchino 
upheld  by  four  Roman  pillars  of  red  porphyry,  which, 
together  with  others  here,  are  said  to  have  come  from 
the  old  Temple  of  Jupiter  that  stood  once  where  Corso 
di  Magenta  now  goes,  is  probably  of  the  twelfth  century. 
This  baldacchino,  perhaps  the  loveliest  thing  in  the 
church,  is  exquisitely  carved  in  the  Byzantine  manner, 
and  adorned  with  bas-reliefs  of  Our  Lord  enthroned, 
who  gives  an  open  book  to  S.  Paul  and  the  keys  to 
S.  Peter,  of  S.  Ambrogio,  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  of 
S.  Gervasio  and  S.  Protasio,  with  figures  of  other  saints. 

I  said  that  the  baldacchino  was  perhaps  the  loveliest 
thing  in  the  church.  I  had  forgotten — had  T  forgotten  ? 
— the  palliotto  of  gold  and  of  silver  which  encloses  the 
altar  and  is  itself  enclosed  in  a  case  or  safe  of  steel, 


90  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

locked  by  twelve  keys,  two  for  each  door,  and  so  precious 
that  it  costs  no  less  than  five  lire  even  to  see  it.  It 
was  made  more  than  a  thousand  years  ago  by  the  gold- 
smith Vuolvinio,  and  given  to  the  church  by  the 
Archbishop  Angilbertus  ii.  The  front  of  this  marvellous 
casket  is  of  solid  gold ;  it  covers  the  whole  front  of  the 
altar,  and  is  held  by  a  frame  or  moulding  of  pure  silver  : 
it  is  covered  with  enamels  and  set  with  precious  jewels 
uncut.  In  the  midst  in  a  mandorla  is  Our  Lord,  and 
above,  below  and  on  either  side,  as  in  a  cross,  are  set 
the  beasts  of  the  Four  Evangelists  ;  on  either  side  of 
the  cross  thus  formed  are  four  compartments  in  each 
of  which  are  three  apostles.  Thus  the  great  central 
panel  is  formed.  On  either  side  of  it  is  another  panel 
almost  equal  to  it  in  size,  in  which  are  set  scenes,  twelve 
in  all,  of  the  life  of  Our  Lord,  beginning  with  the  An- 
nunciation and  ending  with  the  Ascension.  At  the 
back  the  palliotto  is  of  pure  silver,  as  it  is  at  the  sides, 
and  the  scenes  there  set  out  are  for  the  most  part  con- 
cerned with  the  life  of  S.  Ambrose.  Here,  too,  are  some 
small  enamels  of  the  heads  of  eight  saints,  perhaps 
earlier  than  the  palliotto  itself,  which  is  here  signed 
WOLVINV.  MAGiST.  PHABER.  Nothing,  I  suppose,  left 
to  us  in  the  world  of  the  work  of  the  goldsmith  is  half  so 
precious  as  this  astounding  and  lovely  casket. 

Beneath  the  high  altar,  so  marvellously  cased  and 
adorned,  lie  in  a  modern  shrine  of  silver  in  the  crypt  the 
bones  of  the  great  archbishop  and  saint  between  those 
of  S.  Gervasius  and  S.  Protasius. 

It  is  interesting  as  commenting  upon  these  relics  to 
read  a  letter  written  by  a  friend  to  Cardinal  Newman 
in  September  1872  :  **  I  was  accidentally  allowed  to 
be  present,"  writes  this  correspondent,  **  at  a  private 
exposition  of  the  relics  of  S.  Ambrose  and  the  SS. 
Gervasius  and  Protasius.  I  have  seen  complete  every 
bone  in  S.  Ambrose*  body.  There  were  present  a  great 
many  clergy,  three  medici,  and  Father  Secchi,  who  was 


MILAN  :   S.  LORENZO  91 

there,  on  account  of  his  great  knowledge  of  the  Catacombs, 
to  testify  to  the  age,  etc.,  of  the  remains.  ...  On  a 
large  table  surrounded  by  ecclesiastics  and  medical 
men  were  three  skeletons.  The  two  were  of  immense 
size  and  very  much  alike,  and  bore  the  marks  of  a 
violent  death  ;  their  age  was  determined  to  be  about 
twenty-six  years.  When  I  entered  the  room  Father 
Secchi  was  examining  the  marks  of  martyrdom  on 
them.  Their  throats  had  been  cut  with  great  violence, 
and  the  neck  vertebrae  were  injured  on  the  inside. 
The  pomum  Adami  had  been  broken,  or  was  not  there  ; 
I  forget  which.  This  bone  was  quite  perfect  in  S. 
Ambrose  ;  his  body  was  wholly  uninjured ;  the  lower 
jaw  (which  was  broken  in  one  of  the  two  martyrs)  was 
wholly  uninjured  in  him,  beautifully  formed,  and  every 
tooth,  but  one  molar  in  the  lower  jaw,^  quite  perfect 
and  white  and  regular.  His  face  had  been  long, 
thin,  oval,  with  a  high  arched  forehead.  His  bones 
were  nearly  white  ;  those  of  the  other  two  were  very 
dark.  His  fingers  long  and  very  delicate  ;  his  bones 
were  a  marked  contrast  to  those  of  the  two  martyrs.** 


S.    LORENZO   AND   S.    EUSTORGIO 

The  oldest  church  in  Milan,  though  without  the 
famous  memories  of  S.  Ambrogio,  the  church  of 
S.  Lorenzo,  which  stands  close  to  those  astonishing 
Roman  columns  in  the  Corso  di  Porta  Ticinese,  is  certainly 
one  of  the  most  beautiful  monuments  in  Italy,  a  building 
of  the  sixth  century,  reconstructed  on  the  ancient  model 

^  This  one  tooth  was  extracted  as  a  relic  by  Archbishop  Angil- 
bert  of  Milan  in  826.  He  wore  it  in  his  episcopal  ring.  One 
day  he  lost  it ;  but  found  it,  as  an  old  woman  prophesied,  in  the 
mouth  of  the  dead  archbishop.  He  then  buried  it,  and  erected 
the  magnificent  golden  palliotto  we  see  to-day,  at  a  cost  of 
38,000  gold  pieces. 


92  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

in  the  eleventh  and  again  at  the  end  of  the  sixteenth 
century.  It  is  said  originally  to  have  stood  within 
those  Thermae  to  which  it  has  been  thought  these 
Roman  columns  bear  witness,  but  a  later  and  perhaps 
a  better  opinion  would  show  us  in  S.  Lorenzo  one  of 
the  earliest  Christian  buildings  in  Milan,  coeval  as  we 
see  it  with  S.  Vitale  of  Ravenna.  However  that  may 
be,  the  church  was  restored  in  the  eleventh  century, 
and  this  so  thoroughly  that  the  Corinthian  capitals  of 
the  old  pillars  were  used  as  bases ;  and  though  the  re- 
storation of  the  sixteenth  century  was  careful  and 
reverent,  it  has  left  its  indelible  mark  upon  the  building. 
Of  its  three  annexes,  S.  Aquilino  on  the  right  is  un- 
doubtedly a  part  of  the  original  building ;  S.  Sisto  on 
the  left  is  a  later  addition,  built  probably  as  a  baptistery  ; 
S.  Ippolito,  behind  S.  Lorenzo,  in  part  seems  to  have 
belonged  to  the  primitive  building. 

But  when  all  is  said,  S.  Lorenzo  remains  in  many 
ways  the  loveliest  and  certainly  the  most  characteristic 
building  of  still  Roman  Milan.  And  the  power  of  Rome 
and  Roman  things,  in  spite  of  every  disaster,  remained 
instinct  and  living  here,  in  its  tremendous  appeal  to  the 
imagination  and  to  the  mind  of  man.  We  find  nearly 
all  the  greater  architects  of  the  Renaissance  to  have 
studied  and  to  have  been  influenced  by  this  church. 
Sangallo  inspires  himself  here,  Leonardo  da  Vinci 
studies  it,  and  it  is,  after  all  we  find,  this  church  of 
S.  Lorenzo  which  engenders  in  the  mind  of  the  greatest 
builder  of  that  period,  Bramante,  the  divine  plan,  the 
most  beautiful  design  of  modern  architecture,  that  for 
S.  Peter's  in  Rome,  which  the  Reformation  ruined  and 
brought  to  nothing. 

S.  Lorenzo  is  octagonal  in  form  and  is  covered  by  a 
dome ;  the  four  main  sides  are  closed  by  semi-cupolas 
borne  by  two  stories  of  colonnades  consisting  each  of  four 
columns.  Nothing  at  once  more  serene  and  more 
joyful  can  be  imagined  :   the  church  is  full  of  the  sun, 


MILAN  :   S.  LORENZO  93 

and  the  eye  is  continually  and  irresistibly  drawn  upward 
to  the  height  of  the  dome. 

Interesting,  however,  as  S.  Lorenzo  is,  in  its  architecture 
recalling  the  Pantheon  and  in  its  spirit  the  spirit  of  the 
Empire,  its  chief  attraction  for  us  lies  perhaps  in  the 
Cappella  di  S.  Aquilino,  which  stands  to  the  right  of 
the  church  and  is  quite  the  most  ancient  part  of  it. 
There  in  the  apses  we  find  mosaics  of  the  sixth  century 
where  Christ  sits  enthroned  surrounded  by  His  twelve 
apostles ;  and  two  richer  and  symbolically  more  inter- 
esting works  in  which  we  see  the  angel  staying  the 
hand  of  Abraham  about  to  sacrifice  his  son,  and  the 
angel  appearing  to  the  shepherds  to  announce  Christ's 
nativity  with  the  Gloria  in  excelsis.  Both  these 
mosaics  are  of  the  sixth  if  not  of  the  fifth  century,  and 
it  is  possible  that  here  in  S.  Aquilino  we  are  really  stand- 
ing in  one  of  the  smaller  halls  of  a  Roman  building, 
perhaps  the  Thermae  to  which  the  great  columns  in  the 
Corso  are  thought  to  bear  witness,  a  hall  which  as  early 
as  the  fourth  century  was  converted  to  the  use  of 
Christianity  and  adorned  with  Christian  symbols, 
though  not  altogether,  for  the  antique  doorway  shows 
us  a  Bacchante  riding  a  goat. 

But  this  chapel  of  S.  Aquilino  contains  something 
that  for  the  merely  human  traveller,  apart  from  the 
artist,  puts  S.  Lorenzo  at  once  on  the  same  level  senti- 
mentally as  S.  Ambrogio.  For  if  in  S.  Ambrogio  we 
seemed  to  find,  in  the  memory  and  presence  of  S.  Ambrose 
there,  something  of  the  glory  and  the  nobility  of  those 
great  Roman  days  of  the  fourth  century,  here  in  S. 
Lorenzo  we  may  perhaps  understand  the  Fall  as  we 
stand  beside  the  great  stone  tomb  of  Ataulphus,  king 
of  the  Goths,  the  successor  of  Alaric.  For  there  in  a 
Roman  and  a  Christian  sarcophagus  lies  the  barbarian 
who  had  made  the  great  raid  with  Alaric,  had  thundered 
at  the  gates  of  Rome,  had  partaken  of  his  glory  and  had 
stood  beside  his  monstrous  and  inviolate  tomb,  whose 


94  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

secret  was  kept  by  the  murder  of  a  multitude.  He 
saw  that  river  of  Southern  Italy,  the  Busentino,  turned 
aside  by  the  walls  of  Consentia.  He  saw  the  royal 
and  barbarian  sepulchre  hewn  out  of  the  river  bed  by 
the  labour  of  a  captive  multitude,  and  adorned  with  the 
splendid  spoils  and  trophies  of  Rome.  He  saw  the  river 
returned  to  its  course,  and  ordered  the  inhuman  massacre 
of  those  who  had  known  how  to  build  so  marvellous  a 
tomb.     He  has  looked  on  the  face  of  Alaric. 

As  king  of  the  Goths,  the  barbarian  who  lies  so 
securely  now  within  sound  of  the  life  of  modern  Milan 
had  a  career  not  less  astonishing  than  that  he  had 
enjoyed  before  Alaric's  death.  After  a  courtship  as 
barbarous,  as  astonishing  and  as  romantic  as  any 
recorded  in  the  history  of  the  world,  this  savage  married 
the  daughter  of  the  great  Theodosius.  And  just  as 
Alaric  had  been  awed  by  the  majesty  even  of  the  Rome 
he  violated,  so  Ataulphus,  with  the  astounding  prize 
of  the  daughter  of  the  Emperor,  the  sister  of  Honorius, 
in  his  hands,  quailed  and  bowed  his  head.  For  we  read 
that  when  the  day  of  their  nuptials  was  celebrated  in 
Narbonne  in  Gaul,  "  the  bride,  attired  and  adorned  like 
a  Roman  Empress,  was  placed  on  a  throne  of  state  ; 
the  king  of  the  Goths,  who  assumed  on  this  occasion 
the  Roman  habit,  contented  himself  with  a  less  honour- 
able seat  by  her  side."  Ataulphus  was  in  415  assassin- 
ated in  the  palace  of  Barcelona,  and  Galla  Placidia, 
whom  he  had  so  much  loved  and  honoured,  "  con- 
founded among  a  crowd  of  vulgar  captives,"  was 
compelled  to  march  on  foot  before  the  horse  of  the 
barbarian  who  had  murdered  her  husband.  Her  mar- 
vellous alabaster  tomb,  empty  now,  shines  under  the 
night-blue  of  the  mosaics  at  Ravenna,  but  Ataulphus  lies 
here  in  the  chapel  of  S.  Aquilino  in  Milan. 

In  the  Cappella  di  S.  Ippolito  too,  here  at  S.  Lorenzo, 
we  have  a  building  of  the  far-off  time  :  but  it  contains 
the  grave  of  a  later  lord  than  Ataulphus  the  Goth  ; 


MILAN  :  S.  EUSTORGIO  95 

for  here  lies  Giovanni  Maria  Visconti  in  a  tomb  by 
Marco  Agrate  (1559). 

From  S.  Lorenzo  one  passes  again  under  those  Roman 
columns  on  one's  way  outside  the  walls  of  the  medieval 
city  to  the  church  of  S.  Eustorgio,  where  one  still  has 
in  mind  the  later  Empire.  For  it  was  here  that  Con- 
stantine  presented  to  S.  Eustorgius,  Archbishop  of  Milan 
in  the  earlier  years  of  the  fourth  century,  what  for  eight 
hundred  years  remained  the  great  treasure  of  this  church, 
the  bones  of  the  Three  Magi,  which  another  barbarian, 
Frederick  Barbarossa,  when  he  sacked  Milan  and  de- 
stroyed her  in  1162,  gave  as  spoil  to  Archbishop  Rinaldus 
of  Cologne  ;  and  in  the  Cathedral  of  Cologne  these 
relics  remain  to  this  day.  The  empty  tomb,  however,  is 
still  here  at  S.  Eustorgio,  and  bears  witness  to  a  theft 
which  carries  us  well  out  of  the  Dark  into  the  Middle  Age. 

But  it  is  in  fact  of  the  Middle  Age  that  the  church 
has  most  to  say  to  us.  For  S.  Eustorgio,  though  a 
foundation  of  the  fourth  century,  was  rebuilt  entirely 
in  1278  and  restored  in  the  seventeenth  century,  while 
its  facade  is  quite  modern.  Indeed,  apart  from  its  early 
foundation  and  that  tomb  of  the  Magi,  S.  Eustorgio 
is  to  be  valued  only  for  its  Medieval  and  Renaissance 
treasures  :  the  Gothic  shrine  of  S.  Peter  Martyr,  a  work 
of  the  fourteenth  century  by  the  Pisan  Giovanni  di 
Balduccio,  and  the  exquisite  Cappella  Portinari,  a  work 
of  the  Renaissance  by  Michelozzo,  which  contains  it. 

S.  Peter  Martyr,  born  at  Verona  in  1205  of  parents 
infected  with  the  astonishing  heresy  of  the  Cathari, 
a  sort  of  Manichees,  at  a  time  when  Lombardy  and  all 
the  plain  was  full  of  heresies  that  had  found  their 
opportunity  in  the  misery  and  discord  of  the  times, 
was  educated  by  a  Catholic  schoolmaster  to  whom  his 
father  sent  him  as  he  was  desirous  to  have  a  learned  man 
for  a  son.  S.  Peter  spent  his  whole  life  in  upholding 
common  sense  and  in  combating  the  monstrous  and 
insane  notions  that  in  a  truly  pitiful  ignorance  the 


96  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

heresiarchs  had  sown  broadcast.  One  has  only  to 
consider  the  pathetic  nonsense,  wholly  anarchical  and 
obscene,  of  which  Guglielmina  and  her  friends  were 
guilty  to  understand  what  a  necessary  and  useful 
mission  was  that  of  S.  Peter  Martyr.  He  was  able 
to  convert  an  incredible  number  of  such  heretics 
in  the  Milanese,  in  Romagna,  in  Ancona,  Tuscany 
and  the  Bolognese,  as  a  Dominican  friar.  In  1252, 
being  in  Como,  he  had  on  April  6,  Dominica  in  Albis 
that  year,  set  out  for  Milan.  Certain  ruffians  determined 
to  take  him  on  the  road,  and  one,  Carinus  by  name, 
gave  him,  as  we  may  see  in  the  great  picture  in  the 
National  Gallery,  two  cuts  on  the  head  with  an  axe 
and  killed  him  as  he  went  through  the  woods, 
and  also  stabbed  his  companion,  Fra  Domenico.  The 
saint  was  then  forty-six  years  old.  His  body  was 
borne  to  Milan  and  laid  in  the  Church  of  S.  Eustorgio, 
then  newly  made  and  Dominican.  His  throne  presently 
became  the  most  sought  after  in  all  Lombardy,  and,  more 
wonderful  still,  Carinus  his  murderer,  who  had  fled  to 
Forli,  was  presently  struck  with  remorse,  renounced  his 
heresy  and  put  on  the  habit  of  a  lay-brother  among 
the  Dominicans.  S.  Peter  was  canonised  in  the  year 
after  his  death  by  Innocent  iv.,  who  appointed  April  29 
as  his  feast  day.  The  tomb  which  Balduccio  of 
Pisa  built  at  the  behest  of  the  Archbishop  Giovanni 
Visconti,  protector  of  the  Dominicans,  for  the  body  of 
the  saint — his  head  is  kept  apart  in  a  golden  casket — 
is  among  the  finest  shrines  in  Italy.  The  same  artist 
made  the  pulpit  of  S.  Casciano  near  Florence,  but  it 
gives  no  idea  of  his  genius.  Only  here  in  S.  Eustorgio 
does  he  seem  really  to  have  expressed  himself,  in  a  work 
not  only  imposing  and  of  a  fine  type  and  great  charm, 
but  of  marvellous  execution,  beside  which  everything 
else  of  the  time  in  Milan  becomes  insignificant.^     It  is 

^  The  exquisite  triptych  now  in  the  Chapel  of  the  Magi  is  said 
to  be  from  the  hand  of  Balduccio.     It  is  worthy  of  him. 


MILAN  :   S.  EUSTORGIO  97 

probable  that  the  beautiful  chapel  was  built  by  Michel- 
ozzo  for  Pigallo  dei  Portinari,  the  treasurer  of  Ludovico 
il  Moro,  to  contain  this  masterpiece,  which  originally 
stood  in  the  body  of  the  church.  On  the  walls  of  the 
chapel  Vincenzo  Foppa  has  beautifully  painted  the 
story  of  the  saint's  life. 

The  tomb  of  S.  Peter  Martyr,  though  by  far  the 
loveliest  monument  in  the  church,  is  not  quite  alone 
there.  In  the  fourth  chapel  on  the  right  we  find  the 
beautiful  Gothic  tomb  of  Stefano  Visconti,  a  fourteenth- 
century  work,  perhaps  by  Bonino  da  Campione,  while 
in  the  sixth  chapel  are  the  monuments  of  Gaspare 
Visconti  and  his  wife,  works  of  the  fifteenth  century. 
Beside  the  high  altar  are  some  fourteenth-century  reliefs 
of  the  Passion  of  Our  Lord. 

With  the  monuments  of  S.  Eustorgio  we  come  out  of 
the  Milan  of  the  Empire  and  the  Dark  Ages  into  the 
Milan  of  the  Middle  Age  and  the  Renaissance,  but  before 
finally  leaving  the  city  of  those  earlier  times,  we  shall 
note  a  few  churches  which  still  retain  some  memory  of 
them.  There  is  the  Church  of  S.  Vincenzo  in  Prato,  for 
instance,  first  built  by  Abbot  Gisalberto  in  833.  It 
seems  to  have  been  rebuilt,  however,  in  the  eleventh 
and  restored  first  in  the  fourteenth  century  and  again  in 
our  time.  It  possesses  still,  nevertheless,  its  old  forms, 
its  lofty  crypt,  and  a  few  pillars  and  capitals  from  the 
original  church,  and,  from  without,  its  apse  is  especially 
lovely. 

About  the  same  time  or  a  little  later  the  Church  of 
S.  Satiro  was  founded  by  Archbishop  Ansperto.  It 
has  not,  however,  the  interest  of  S.  Vincenzo,  for  it  was 
entirely  rebuilt  in  the  Renaissance. 

In  the  eleventh  century  was  founded  the  Church  of 
S.  Babila,  which  still  retains  much  of  its  Lombard 
aspect,  as  do  S.  Simpliciano  and  S.  Sepolcro. 

Nor  should  that  remnant  of  a  later  time  be  forgotten, 
the  Palazzo  della  Ragione  or  del  Podesta,  a  building 
7 


98  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

of  the  thirteenth  century,  erected  in  the  Piazza  dei 
Mercanti,  the  centre  of  the  medieval  city,  by  the  Podesta 
Tresseno.  It  is  the  last  building  of  free  Milan.  From 
it  we  pass  to  the  astonishment  of  the  Cathedral  which 
stands,  in  all  its  foreign  splendour,  the  creation  of 
Giovanni  Galeazzo  Visconti. 


THE   DUOMO 

The  Duomo  of  Milan,  the  most  famous  and  the 
greatest  Gothic  building  in  Italy,  was  projected  and 
built  by  the  Visconti,  and  first  by  Gian  Galeazzo 
Visconti  in  1386,  and  therefore  at  a  time  when  the 
Gothic  style  had  already  begun  to  show  signs  of  de- 
cadence and  exhaustion.  It  is  in  no  sense  an  Italian 
building.  It  was  not  Milan  which  built  it,  as  Florence 
and  Siena  built  their  cathedrals,  but  the  tyrant 
Visconti.  It  was  not  a  Latin  idea  or  a  Latin  enthusiasm 
which  conjured  this  vast  and  astonishing  thing  out  of 
the  mountains  and  the  soil  of  Italy  :  the  Duomo  of 
Milan  is  the  result  of  a  particular,  probably  foreign, 
and  certainly  belated  fancy  for  Northern  work.  It 
was  conceived  by  Gian  Galeazzo  Visconti,  who  had 
been  a  great  traveller. 

All-powerful  in  Lombardy,  the  ambition  of  this  strong 
and  unscrupulous  tyrant  was  to  place  upon  his  head 
the  crown  of  Italy  and  to  dominate  the  whole  peninsula. 
With  this  hope  in  his  heart,  he  undertook  the  building 
of  the  greatest  of  all  Italian  churches,  and  he  fashioned 
it  after  the  manner  of  those  he  had  seen  in  the  monarchies 
of  the  North. 

As  we  see  it  to-day,  the  Cathedral  of  Milan  is  the 
result  of  a  collaboration  between  German,  probably 
south  German,  architects  and  Italian  engineers,  the 
chief  of  the  latter  being  Simone  da  Orsenigo  ;  and,  as 
we  shall  see,  what  is  chiefly  to  be  admired  and  loved 


».  •  '.»  • 


THE    DUOMO,    MILAN 


MILAN  :  THE  DUOMO  99 

in  the  building  is  due  to  what  these  Latins  were  able 
to  make  of  German  work. 

It  is  amusing,  in  reading  any  history  of  the  building 
of  this  enormous  church,  to  watch  the  ebb  and  flow 
of  the  German  influence.  During  many  years,  we  see 
German  masters  one  after  another  called  to  Milan. 
Each  condemns  the  work  of  his  predecessors,  each  in  a 
few  months  is  himself  dismissed.  So  hard  it  is  to  kick 
against  the  pricks!  For  if  a  cathedral  is  to  live,  it 
must  be  an  expression  of  national  consciousness,  not 
of  individual  desire.  That  the  Cathedral  of  Milan  is 
a  living  thing  we  owe  to  the  Italian  engineers  who 
followed  the  German  architects. 

When  the  last  German  was  gone,  these  men  took 
their  plan,  and  competitions  were  opened  for  the 
erection  of  the  building ;  and  during  the  construction  we 
see  each  victor  in  these  competitions  in  turn  take 
charge  and  become  engineer-in-chief.  The  steps  in  this 
achievement  would  seem  to  have  been  somewhat  as 
follows. 

On  May  i,  1392,  the  plan  we  see  was  accepted 
and  that  of  Arler  di  Gmiind  rejected  and  that  master 
dismissed.  Ten  years  later  the  choir  and  transepts 
were  built  and  the  final  form  of  the  church  fixed.  As 
we  see  it,  the  Cathedral  has  five  naves,  and  this,  as 
I  understand  it,  is  necessary  to  the  fundamental  Latin 
desire  that  makes  of  the  church,  in  spite  of  the  Germans 
and  the  style,  a  really  Latin  and  a  living  thing  :  the 
desire  for  space.  Yet  even  Orsenigo  does  not  seem  to 
have  understood  or  felt  this,  for  with  the  true  Italian 
disregard  of  inherent  construction,  he  designed  to  build 
walls  between  the  chapels  :  only  the  Latin  consciousness 
of  the  people  prevented  him,  and  he  was  obliged  to 
leave  the  nave  the  glorious  and  tremendous  thing  it  is 
to-day. 

So  much  for  the  plan  and  the  building  itself.  The 
Gothic  detail  and  ornament  are  very  different  matters. 


100  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

These  are  quite  inanimate,  without  expression  or  charm, 
as  dead  everywhere  as  the  work  of  our  own  day,  and 
indeed  they  might  be  the  very  work  of  our  hands. 
This  hopeless  mediocrity  is  thought  by  many  to  be 
saved  from  all  the  baseness  of  its  effect  by  its  very 
profusion,  which,  it  is  said,  prevents  our  perceiving  the 
sterility  of  ideas  and  the  feebleness  of  execution  every- 
where apparent  on  close  examination,  more  especially 
perhaps  in  the  termination  of  the  choir,  the  facades 
of  the  transepts  and  the  arbitrary  forms  of  the  cupola, 
"  an  offering  of  the  Renaissance  upon  the  tomb  of 
Gothic  architecture."  I  at  least  cannot  see  the 
validity  of  any  such  excuse.  What  saves  the  Cathedral 
from  barbarism  is  not  the  profuseness  of  its  weakness, 
but  the  nobility  and  splendour  of  its  spaciousness  and 
the  beauty  and  spiritual  effect  of  just  that. 

I  have  spoken  of  the  feebleness  of  the  facades  of  the 
transepts  :  the  main  fagade  was  begun  in  the  end  of 
the  Renaissance  and  was  finished  by  order  of  Napoleon 
in  the  Gothic  style.  An  old  model  which  one  finds 
in  the  Duomo  behind  the  choir  shows  us  that  originally 
there  were  to  have  been  towers  :  perhaps  they  might 
have  done  something  to  save  it.  As  it  is,  the  fagade  is  a 
complete  failure.  It  gives  one  no  idea  at  all  of  the 
lofty  and  noble  church  behind  it,  and  indeed  there  is 
no  one  who  has  entered  there  for  the  first  time  but  has 
been  astonished  and  dumbfounded  by  what,  without 
any  sort  of  warning,  he  sees. 

The  effect  of  the  Cathedral  without  is  in  fact  altogether 
false,  vulgar  and  disappointing.  In  the  sunlight  it 
appears  not  like  "  a  mountain  of  marble,"  but  like  an 
immense  bridecake;  yet  sometimes  in  the  moonlight 
it  is  extraordinary,  like  a  fairy  palace.  It  expresses  no 
idea,  and  always  in  the  daylight  one  remains  miserable 
before  it  and  has  to  console  oneself  with  the  ironical 
assurance  that  there  is  nothing  like  it  in  the  world.  Its 
true  splendour  within,  its  sense  of  space  and  height  are 


MILAN  :  THE  DUOMO  loi 

utterly  lacking  without.  In  spite  of  its  thousand 
unbroken  shafts,  its  myriads  of  perpendicular  lines,  it 
is  without  any  suggestion  of  height  as  seen  from  the 
Piazza,  yet  it  might  seem  to  miss  it  by  a  miracle.  It 
fails  in  this  necessary  thing,  as  it  fails  to  convince  us 
of  its  sincerity  of  construction  and  simplicity  of  purpose. 

If,  without,  the  Duomo  of  Milan,  lost  in  its  confusion 
of  detail,  its  thousands  of  statues,  its  restless  fretwork 
and  innumerable  pinnacles,  fails  to  win  from  us  any- 
thing but  wonder,  within,  let  us  confess  it  at  once,  it 
overwhelms  us  altogether  by  its  sheer  grandeur  and 
nobility.  The  true  height  of  the  roof  is  not  only  at 
once  apparent  and  even  exaggerated  by  the  fact  that 
it  is  upheld  by  giant  pillars  which  rise  unbroken  to  the 
vaults,  without  either  triforium  or  clerestory ;  but  the 
vast  size  of  the  church  is  understood  at  once,  its  nobility 
not  of  height  only  but  of  breadth  and  spaciousness. 
Cruciform  in  shape,  with  five  naves  and  aisled  transepts, 
it  is  486  feet  long,  the  main  nave  is  157  feet  high,^  the 
facade  is  219  feet  across  and  the  transept  292  feet. 
The  church  covers  an  area  of  14,000  square  yards  and 
will  hold  40,000  people.  Thus  it  is,  I  suppose,  the 
largest  Gothic  church  in  existence.  Its  contents, 
however,  save  for  a  few  tombs  and  the  works  collected 
in  the  sacristy,  are  of  meagre  interest,  and  in  this 
respect  it  is  probably  the  poorest  cathedral  in  the 
world. 

One  of  the  earliest  of  the  few  interesting  tombs 
which  it  contains  is  that  of  Archbishop  Aribert  (1018-45) 
in  the  right  aisle,  above  which  hangs  a  gilded  crucifix 
of  the  same  period.     This  tomb,  of  course,  came  from 

^  To  compare  Milan  Cathedral  with  English  churches  :  Win- 
chester, the  longest  church  remaining  to  us,  is  560  feet,  but  Old 
St.  Paul's  was  690  feet,  and  Glastonbury  Abbey  600  ;  West- 
minster Abbey,  the  loftiest  Gothic  church  in  England,  is  103 
feet  from  floor  to  vault  in  the  nave,  is  with  Henry  VII.  Chapel 
513  feet  long,  has  a  transept  of  200  feet  and  nave  and  aisles  of 
75  feet  in  breadth. 


102  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

the  old  Church  of  S,  Maria  Maggiore,  which  stood  here 
in  the  days  of  S.  Ambrose.  Close  by  is  the  monument 
of  Ottone  Visconti,  who  died  in  1295,  and  of  Giovanni 
Visconti,  who  died  in  1354,  both  archbishops  of  this 
see,  who  lie  in  the  same  tomb,  which  was  built  for  the 
first  of  them  by  the  Knights  of  S.  John.  This  tomb 
also  comes  from  the  old  basilica.  The  first  tomb  in 
this  aisle  which  was  built  for  the  present  church  is  that 
of  Marco  Carelli,  who  died  in  1394,  perhaps  by  Niccolo 
d'  Arezzo  the  Tuscan. 

Turning  into  the  right  transept,  we  come  on  the  west 
wall  upon  the  monument  erected  by  Pius  iv.  to  the 
brothers  Giovanni  Giacomo  and  Gabriele  de'  Medici  of 
Milan — that  is  to  say,  II  Medeghino^  and  his  brother, 
who  were  the  brothers  of  the  Pope.  The  tomb  is  the 
work  of  Leone  Leoni  in  1560.  On  the  eastern  wall  is  the 
Lady  altar  with  reliefs  by  the  Milanese  master  Agostino 
Busti,  II  Bambaia  (1480-1548).  Close  by  is  a  statue 
of  S.  Bartholomew,  a  horrible  anatomical  study  of  the 
saint  flayed  with  his  skin  over  his  arm,  by  Marco  Agrate 
(1562) .  This  work  is  typical  of  too  much  of  that  which 
we  find  in  the  Duomo  of  Milan.  Lombard  sculpture, 
and  especially  the  work  later  than  that  of  Agostino 
Busti,  is  wholly  insignificant  in  character.  Marco  Agrate 
worked  much  here  in  Milan  and  at  the  Certosa  of  Pa  via  ; 
all  his  work  is  feeble,  but  not  always  as  disagreeable 
as  in  this  statue  of  S.  Bartholomew.  Something  better 
awaits  us  in  the  door  of  the  ambulatory,  a  work  of 
the  end  of  the  fourteenth  century,  and  in  the  sacristy, 
where  many  treasures  from  the  old  basilica,  the  enamelled 
Evangelium  of  Archbishop  Aribert,  certain  diptychs 
of  the  sixth  century,  some  Byzantine  carvings,  an 
ivory  cup,  a  golden  Pax,  are  to  be  found,  beside  the 
statue  of  Our  Lord  by  Cristoforo  Solari,  a  work  made 
after  that  sojourn  in  Rome  which  ruined  him  as  an 
artist.  Nothing  of  much  interest  is  to  be  found  in  the 
1  See  supra,  pp.  42  et  seq. 


MILAN  :   THE  SFORZA  103 

ambulatory,  unless  it  be  the  great  black  marble  tomb 
of  Cardinal  Marino  Caracciolo  by  Agostino  Busti. 

Making  our  way,  then,  into  the  north  transept,  we 
find  in  the  midst  the  great  bronze  candelabrum  of  seven 
branches,  French  work,  it  is  said,  of  the  thirteenth 
century ;   it  is  one  of  the  loveliest  things  in  the  church. 

Under  the  dome,  before  the  choir,  in  a  crypt  called 
the  Cappella  di  S.  Carlo,  lies  the  great  Archbishop 
S.  Carlo  Borromeo,  to  whom  Milan  owes  so  much. 

In  the  north  aisle  is  an  altarpiece  in  which  we  see 
S.  Ambrose  absolving  the  Emperor  Theodosius  :  it  is 
a  work  of  the  seventeenth  century.  Close  by,  in  the 
third  chapel,  is  a  wood  crucifix  that  belonged  to  S.  Carlo 
Borromeo.  Near  by  is  a  monument  to  three  archbishops 
of  Milan,  all  of  the  Arcimboldi  family  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  and  better  far  against  the  wall  eight  statues 
of  Apostles  which  seem  to  be  work  of  the  thirteenth 
century.  The  most  ancient  thing  in  the  church  greets 
us  £LS  we  leave  it,  I  mean  the  font,  which  is  an  ancient 
basin  of  porphyry,  probably  as  old  as  the  fourth 
century.  It  is  said  to  have  come  from  Rome  to  Ravenna, 
and  so  hither.     It  seems  to  mske  all  one. 


THE   SFORZA 

Now,  when  the  Visconti  were  done  with  at  last,  when 
Filippo  Maria  was  dead  and  the  people  of  Milan  began 
to  lift  up  its  head,  a  grave  question  had  to  be  decided 
and  that  quickly,  for  on  every  side  Milan  found  herself 
surrounded  by  enemies  at  once  envious  and  unscrupulous. 
What  government  should  Milan  give  herself  ?  Should 
she  confide  herself  again  to  a  t5n:ant  or  to  a  dynasty  ? 
Or  should  she  build  once  more  within  her  walls  the 
old  Republic  that  men  still  called  Ambrosian  ?  At 
first  she  leaned,  it  appeared,  to  this  last  solution,  and 
the  man  who  directed  this  democratic  movement  was 


104  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

Antonio  Trivulzio,  with  two  of  his  friends.  That  high 
hope,  as  we  know,  failed  before  the  treachery  of  Francesco 
Sforza  and  the  envy  of  Venice  and  the  Medici.  Never- 
theless, it  remained  in  the  hearts  of  the  Milanese  as  an 
everlasting  thought,  something  to  be  won,  some  time 
and  somewhere,  and  though  it  was  never  really  attained 
it  remains  for  us  in  the  name  of  Trivulzio  one  of  the 
noblest  memories  of  the  city. 

In  that  corner  of  the  city  which  lies  between  the 
Corso  di  Porta  Romana  and  the  Ospedale  Maggiore, 
a  fine  Renaissance  building  of  1457,  one  of  the  earliest 
and  best  works  of  the  Sforza  tyrants,  there  stands  as 
it  were  the  shrine  of  the  Republic  that  was  never 
realised,  the  Church  of  S.  Nazaro,  which  contains  the 
tombs  of  the  Trivulzi  family.  The  heroes  lie  in  the 
sepulchral  chapel  of  their  house,  a  strange  octagonal 
chamber  built  in  15 18  by  Girolamo  della  Porta.  The 
founder  of  this  chapel  was  the  soldier  Gian  Giacomo 
Trivulzio,  the  overthrower  of  II  Moro  :  here  he  placed 
the  tomb  of  Antonio  his  father,  who  had  attempted  to 
establish  the  golden  Ambrosian  Republic,  and  of  his 
two  sons,  Niccolo  and  Francesco,  with  their  wives  and 
children.  The  tombs  are  placed  high  up  on  the  walls, 
as  though  to  avoid  desecration,  and  they  make  one  of 
the  few  shrines  in  Milan  that  a  patriot  may  visit  without 
an  afterthought. 

Their  antithesis,  and  in  a  measure  their  defeat,  is 
expressed  in  one  of  the  great  wonders  of  the  city, 
the  splendidly  restored  Castello  of  the  Sforza,  a  city 
as  it  were  in  itself,  which  stands  in  the  Nuovo  Parco,  a 
bastion  on  the  walls. 

The  first  fortress  and  citadel  built  here  was  the  work  of 
Galeazzo  Visconti,  but  Antonio  Trivulzio  and  the  people 
destroyed  it  when  they  hoped  to  found  the  Republic.  The 
first  work  of  the  freebooter  and  adventurer  of  Cotignola, 
whom  we  know  as  Francesco  Sforza,  Duke  of  Milan, 
was  to  rebuild  it. 


MILAN  :   THE  SFORZA  105 

Francesco  Sforza  is  perhaps  the  best  example  that 
is  anywhere  to  be  found  of  the  wonderful  success  that 
in  the  fifteenth  century  not  infrequently  awaited  a 
man  who  took  up  arms  as  a  profession,  enlisted  a  band 
of  followers  and  outlaws  and  sold  his  services  to  the 
highest  bidder.  Few,  however,  have  had  so  great  a 
success  with  so  little  legitimate  claim  to  government, 
but  then  few  had  his  talents.  There  was  Piccinino, 
for  instance,  but  he  was  not  vulgar  enough  to  succeed 
as  Sforza  did,  for  indeed  he  was  a  gentleman.  Francesco 
Sforza,  however,  by  no  means  a  better  soldier,  was  a 
more  vigorous  and  more  unscrupulous  man  :  he  was 
determined  to  succeed  and  at  any  price.  He  had  his  wish. 
For  years  before  he  thought  of  Milan  he  had  wandered 
up  and  down  Romagna  and  the  Marches  looking  for 
a  lordship,  fighting  in  any  cause  that  paid  him,  the 
hireling  of  the  Pope,  of  Venice,  of  the  Medici,  of  Florence. 
He  had  managed  to  establish  himself  in  the  March 
of  Ancona,  when  circumstances  turned  his  thoughts 
towards  Milan,  where  the  breakdown  of  the  Visconti 
dynasty  and  rule  was  obvious.  First  like  a  beggar, 
then  like  a  blackmailer,  he  presumed  to  demand  the 
hand  of  Visconti's  illegitimate  daughter.  Visconti 
laughed  at  him,  but  Sforza  was  persistent,  and  at  last 
by  threats  and  every  disgraceful  means  known  to  the 
swindler  and  the  assassin  he  got  what  he  wanted.  On 
this  marriage  he  founded  his  claim  to  the  succession  of 
the  Duchy. 

But  he  was  the  last  man  in  the  world  to  depend  upon 
such  a  claim.  Francesco  Sforza  was  a  realist.  On 
the  death  of  Filippo  Visconti,  he  entered  the  service  of 
the  Republic  very  much  in  the  same  way  as  he  had 
entered  the  family  of  Visconti — that  is  to  say,  by  con- 
temptible and  importunate  begging  and  by  threats. 
No  sooner  was  he  the  servant  of  the  Republic  than  he 
plotted  to  betray  her,  and  only  bided  his  time  to  seize 
the  city,  which  at  length  by  a  series  of  the  most  barefaced 


io6  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

and  impudent  hypocrisies  he  starved  into  surrender. 
Blackmailer  he  was  born  and  blackmailer  he  died,  and 
till  their  extinction  this  was  the  amazing  and  amusing 
trait  which  distinguished  all  his  family. 

It  is  entertaining  to  us  to  know,  and  confirms  us,  if 
confirmation  were  needed,  in  our  estimate  of  Sforza, 
that  when,  having  got  possession  of  Milan,  he  deter- 
mined to  rebuild  the  Castello  of  Galeazzo  Visconti,  he 
announced  he  would  set  this  up  for  the  embellishment 
of  the  city.  Every  soul  in  Milan  must  have  known 
that  he  had  but  one  intention,  namely,  to  overawe  the 
people  ;  yet  this  is  but  one  example  more  of  the  extra- 
ordinary childishness  of  Italian  diplomacy  at  that 
time,  and  indeed  for  long  both  before  and  since.  In 
any  consideration  of  it,  however  superficial,  one  is 
continually  asking  oneself  who  can  have  believed  the 
amazing  and  obvious  lies  that  passed  for  diplomacy, 
whom  could  they  have  deceived  and  what  purposes 
were  they  supposed  to  serve  ?  These  are  unanswerable 
questions. 

Yet,  8  f  ter  all,  time  brings  about  its  revenges,  and  though 
Sforza  built  the  Castello  for  his  own  security  and  to 
overawe  the  turbulent  democracy  of  Milan,  we  have 
rebuilt  it  exactly  for  the  reason  he,  lying,  gave,  namely, 
as  an  ornament  to  the  city  of  Milan,  a  purpose  it  is 
excellently  fitted  to  fill. 

For  in  the  Castello,  even  as  we  now  see  it,  the  history 
of  Milan  from  the  time  of  Francesco  Sforza  to  our 
own  day  is  as  it  were  mirrored.  Each  Sforza  as  he 
succeeded  added  to  the  original  fortress-palace, decorated 
it  with  paintings  and  planted  it  with  gardens.  Then 
came  the  Spaniards,  the  French,  the  Austrians,  who  used 
it  only  as  a  fortress,  till  when  their  time  was  overpast 
the  Milanese,  sure  of  themselves  at  last,  decided,  and 
in  our  own  day,  to  preserve  the  old  instrument  of 
their  servitude,  with  that  tolerance  which  security 
gives,  and  very  much  in  the  same  spirit,  I  suppose,  as  an 


MILAN  :  THE  SFORZA  107 

English  schoolboy  preserves  the  birch  with  which 
he  was  flogged :  and  so  the  Castello,  restored  out  of 
all  recognition  and  planted  about  with  a  fair  park, 
became  a  Museum — the  tomb,  that  is,  of  all  that  glorious 
and  miserable  past  which  lends  the  city  to-day  the  so 
various  interest  she  has  for  us. 

It  would,  indeed,  have  been  a  shame  upon  Milan  to 
have  destroyed  in  vulgar  anger  and  relief  this  building, 
in  part  the  work  of  Bramante,  in  which  Leonardo  looked 
into  the  dark  face  of  II  Moro,  and  watched  Bianca  Maria 
as  she  passed  from  room  to  room,  and  played  upon 
that  strange  lyre  shaped  like  a  horse's  skull  and  made 
of  silver  with  which  he  first  charmed  the  Viper.  Instead, 
the  Milanese  have  honoured  themselves  as  the  foolish 
Perugians  were  too  ignorant  to  know  how  to  do,  by 
taking  such  care  of  the  CasteUo  that  it  is  now  one  of 
their  most  splendid  museums,  and  one  of  the  most 
interesting  buildings  in  their  city. 

For  in  those  long  corridors  where,  as  we  know,  Lucrezia 
Crivelli,  Cecilia  Galerani  the  poetess  and  the  Duchess 
Beatrice  went  so  light,  the  Milanese  have  set  out  their 
treasures,  the  contents  of  the  old  Museo  Civico  and 
the  Museo  Archseologico.  There,  in  the  Corte  Ducale,  the 
new  palace  of  the  Sforzas,  amid  a  crowd  of  curious  and 
a  few  beautiful  things,  we  find  the  tomb  of  Bernabd 
Visconti,  from  whom  Giovanni  Galeazzo  wrested  the 
city  in  1385.^  Here,  too,  are  a  beautiful  pulpit  by 
Michelozzo  with  sculptures  that  recall  Donatello,  and 
the  monument  of  Gaston  de  Foix,  the  unfinished 
masterpiece  of  Agostino  Busti,  which  Francis  i.  ordered 
in  15 15.  It  was  once  in  the  cloister  of  S.  Marta,  and 
was  later  removed  to  the  Brera. 

Beside  the  Museo  Archaeologico,  lately  in  the  Brera, 

^  This  monument  was  erected  in  the  Church  of  S,  Giovanni 
in  Conca  in  Milan  in  Bernabo's  lifetime,  and  is  probably  the 
work  of  Bonino  da  Campione,  a  pupil  perhaps  Of  Giovanni  di 
Balduccio  the  Pisan,  who  made  the  shrine  of  S.  Peter  Martyr. 


lo8  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

the  Milanese  have  gathered  here  in  the  Loggetta,  added 
to  the  Castello  by  Galeazzo  Maria  Sforza,  the  Museo 
Artistico  Municipale.  Here,  amid  some  dull  bric-a-brac 
and  some  interesting  early  views  of  the  city,  is  a  small 
gallery  of  paintings  by  Milanese  and  Lombard  masters, 
which  contains  nothing  of  very  vivid  interest.  If  we 
want  to  realise  what  in  the  way  of  painting  was  being 
done  in  Milan  in  the  time  of  the  Sforzas,  we  shall  leave 
the  Castello  and  make  our  way  to  S.  Maria  delle  Grazie, 
and  there  in  fact  we  shall  find  the  best  excuse  for  the 
Sforza  rule. 

Illegitimate  and  oppressive  though  the  rule  of  the 
despots  was  wherever  it  obtained,  and  not  least  under 
the  Sforza  of  Milan,  this  at  any  rate  is  to  be  said  for  it,  that 
it  encouraged  art  and  employed  artists  in  a  way  that  no 
democracy  has  ever  known  how  or  cared  to  do.  It  is 
sometimes  asserted  that  the  art  of  the  Middle  Age, 
and  especially  the  architecture  of  that  incomparable 
time  for  building,  was  the  work  of  the  people.  In  a 
sense  that  may  be  true,  but  only  in  a  sense  very  limited 
and  partial.  Westminster  Abbey,  the  crown  and  jewel 
of  our  English  churches,  was  the  work  not  of  the  people, 
nor  of  a  religious  Order,  but  of  the  King,  and  it  owed  its 
splendour,  incomparable  even  in  decay,  to  him  and  to 
him  alone.  In  Italy  it  was  the  Pope  or  the  Medici  who 
for  the  most  part  caused  to  be  painted  or  carved  the 
wonderful  things  we  know.  When  for  a  moment 
Florence,  under  the  evil  influence  of  the  Ferrarese 
Savonarola,  expelled  the  Medici,  she  also  expelled  the 
artists  and  burned  their  work.  It  was  in  the  beginning 
of  this  confused  democratic  movement  in  Florence  that 
Leonardo  da  Vinci  left  the  city  of  the  Lily  and  came  to 
Milan,  according  to  Vasari,  as  a  musician  with  "a  lute 
which  he  had  himself  constructed  almost  wholly  of  silver 
and  in  the  shape  of  a  horse's  head,  a  new  and  fanciful 
form  calculated  to  give  more  force  and  sweetness  to 
the  sound.     When  playing  this  instrument,  Leonardo 


MILAN  :  THE  SFORZA  109 

surpassed  all  the  musicians  who  had  assembled  to  per- 
form before  the  Duke  ;  he  was,  besides,  one  of  the  best 
improvisatori  in  verse  existing  at  the  time  ;  and  soon 
the  Duke  became  enchanted  with  the  admirable  con- 
versation of  the  young  Florentine  artist." 

We  shall  never  hear  that  music,  or  the  rhythm  of  those 
verses  or  the  words  which  so  charmed  the  Moor,  but  it 
might  be  thought  that  here  in  Milan  we  might  certainly 
hope  to  look  upon  many  of  the  works  of  the  first  painter 
in  Italy.  In  fact,  there  remains  in  Milan  but  one  paint- 
ing from  his  hand,  and  that,  time,  war  and  restoration 
have  alike  combined  to  ruin,  I  mean  the  great  wall- 
painting  of  the  Last  Supper  in  the  refectory  of  this 
Dominican  Church  of  S.  Mary  of  the  Graces. 

"  For  the  friars  of  S.  Dominic  at  S.  Maria  delle 
Grazie,"  says  Vasari,  **  Leonardo  painted  a  Cenacolo,  a 
Last  Supper,  which  is  a  most  beautiful  and  admirable 
work.  To  the  heads  of  the  Apostles  in  this  picture  the 
master  gave  so  much  beauty  and  majesty  that  he  was 
constrained  to  leave  that  of  Christ  unfinished,  being 
convinced  that  he  could  not  impart  to  it  the  divinity 
which  should  belong  to  and  distinguish  an  image  of 
Our  Lord.  But  this  work  remaining  thus  in  its  unfinished 
state,  has  been  ever  held  in  the  highest  estimation  by 
the  Milanese,  and  not  by  them  on^ly,  but  by  foreigners 
also  ;  Leonardo  succeeded  to  perfection  in  expressing 
the  doubts  and  anxiety  experienced  by  the  Apostles 
and  the  desire  felt  by  them  to  know  by  whom  their 
Master  is  to  be  betrayed  ;  in  the  faces  of  all  appear 
love,  terror,  anger,  or  grief  and  bewilderment,  unable 
as  they  are  to  fathom  the  meaning  of  their  Lord.  Nor 
is  the  spectator  less  struck  with  admiration  by  the  force 
and  truth  with  which,  on  the  other  hand,  the  master  has 
exhibited  the  impious  determination,  hatred  and 
treachery  of  Judas.  The  whole  work  indeed  is  executed 
with  inexpressible  diligence  even  in  its  most  minute 
part ;  among  other  things  may  be  mentioned  the  table- 


no  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

cloth,  the  texture  of  which  is  copied  with  such  exacti- 
tude that  the  linen  cloth  itself  could  scarcely  look  more 
real. 

"It  is  related  that  the  Prior  of  the  convent  was  ex- 
cessively importunate  in  pressing  Leonardo  to  com- 
plete the  picture  ;  he  could  in  no  way  comprehend 
wherefore  the  artist  should  sometimes  remain  half  a 
day  together  absorbed  in  thought  before  his  work, 
without  making  any  progress  that  he  could  see  ;  this 
seemed  to  him  strange  waste  of  time,  and  he  would 
fain  have  had  him  work  away  as  he  could  make  the  men 
do  who  were  digging  in  his  garden,  never  laying  the 
pencil  out  of  his  hand.  Not  content  with  seeking  to 
hasten  Leonardo,  the  Prior  even  complained  to  the 
Duke,  and  tormented  him  to  such  an  extent  that  he  was 
at  length  compelled  to  send  for  Leonardo,  whom  he 
courteously  entreated  to  let  the  work  be  finished, 
assuring  him  nevertheless  that  he  did  so  because  im- 
pelled by  the  importunities  of  the  Prior.  Leonardo, 
knowing  the  Prince  to  be  intelligent  and  judicious, 
determined  to  explain  himself  fully  on  the  subject  with 
him,  although  he  had  never  chosen  to  do  so  with  the 
Prior.  He  therefore  discussed  with  him  at  some  length 
respecting  art,  and  made  it  perfectly  manifest  to  his 
comprehension  that  men  of  genius  are  sometimes 
producing  most  when  they  seem  to  be  labouring  least, 
their  minds  being  occupied  in  the  elucidation  of  their 
ideas,  and  in  the  completion  of  those  conceptions  to 
which  they  afterwards  give  form  and  expression  with  the 
hand.  He  further  informed  the  Duke  that  there  were 
still  wanting  to  him  two  heads,  one  of  which,  that  of  the 
Saviour,  he  could  not  hope  to  find  on  earth,  and  had  not 
yet  attained  the  power  of  presenting  it  to  himself  in 
imagination  with  all  that  perfection  of  beauty  and 
celestial  grace  which  appeared  to  him  to  be  demanded 
for  the  due  representation  of  God  incarnate.  The 
second  head  still  wanting  was  that  of  Judas,  which  also 


MILAN  :  THE  SFORZA  iii 

caused  him  some  anxiety,  since  he  did  not  think  it 
possible  to  imagine  a  form  of  feature  that  should  properly 
render  the  countenance  of  a  man  who  after  so  many 
benefits  received  from  his  Master  had  possessed  a  heart 
so  depraved  as  to  be  capable  of  betraying  his  Lord 
and  the  Creator  of  the  world ;  with  regard  to  that 
second,  however,  he  would  make  search,  and  after  all — 
if  he  could  find  no  better — he  need  never  be  at  any 
great  loss,  for  there  would  always  be  the  head  of  that 
troublesome  and  impertinent  Prior.  This  made  the 
Duke  laugh  with  all  his  heart,  and  he  declared  Leonardo 
to  be  completely  in  the  right ;  and  the  wretched  Prior, 
utterly  confounded,  went  away,  to  drive  on  the  digging 
in  his  garden,  and  left  Leonardo  in  peace.  The  head  of 
Judas  was  then  finished  so  successfully  that  it  is  indeed 
the  true  image  of  treachery  and  wickedness  ;  but  that  of 
the  Redeemer  remained,  as  we  have  said,  incomplete." 

There  can  be  no  one,  I  suppose,  who  comes  on  an 
autumn  afternoon  into  that  beautiful  refectory  and 
looks  upon  the  ruin  of  one  of  the  greatest  works  of  all 
time  who  does  not  recall  that  excellent  and  immortal 
story  of  the  artist  and  his  patron.  And  indeed  the  tale 
is  a  godsend,  for  it  helps  to  relieve  us  in  our  grief  at  the 
ruin  of  so  marvellous  and  beautiful  a  thing.  This  ruin 
is  not  altogether  the  work  of  soldiers  and  restorers.  To 
Leonardo  himself,  in  his  insatiable  desire  for  experiment, 
is  due  much  of  the  destruction  we  see.  For  the  master 
did  not  here  employ  the  old  and  tried  method  of  fresco, 
in  which  his  countrymen  had  excelled  for  ages,  and  much 
of  which  is  still  almost  as  fresh  as  the  day  on  which  it 
was  uncovered.  He  employed  a  method  of  his  own, 
painting,  on  a  damp  and  humid  wall,  in  oil,  so  that  he 
might  return  again  and  again,  to  the  most  inestimable 
of  his  works.  This  would  have  doomed  it  even  in  careful 
hands  ;  as  it  is,  the  convent  has  been  subjected  to 
every  sort  of  rough  usage,  both  in  peace  and  war.  The 
soldiers  of  Francis  i.  are  in  part  to  blame,  but  to  the 


112  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

cleaning  and  repainting  of  restorers  we  are  even  more 
indebted  for  the  ruin  we  see,  while  the  friars  seem  to  have 
thought  so  little  of  the  precious  thing  they  held  in  trust 
for  humanity  that  they  drove  a  door  through  it  in  the 
midst.  Little  thus  remains  to  us  but  the  composition 
of  Leonardo,  and  that  is  of  an  incomparable  beauty  and 
rhythm. 

Vasari  twice  asserts  that  the  head  of  Christ  was  left 
uncompleted  by  Leonardo,  yet  it  seems  to  us  to  be  as 
perfectly  finished  as  those  of  the  Apostles,  which  Vasari 
asserts  were  completed  by  Leonardo  himself.  It  is 
probable,  then,  that  another  hand  has  been  at  work  here 
from  very  early  times,  and  that  the  head  of  Christ,  which 
still  seems  to  us  a  miracle,  a  ghost  seen  through  the 
wall,  is  but  Leonardo's  in  general  outline  and  suggestion. 
Even  so,  it  is  one  of  the  most  marvellous  and  moving 
apparitions  in  all  Italy. 

The  chief  interest  in  S.  Maria  delle  Grazie  is  of  course 
to  be  found  in  this  work  of  Leonardo's,  but  the  church 
should  by  no  means  be  neglected.  The  facade  and  the 
nave,  the  earliest  parts  of  it,  were  new  in  Leonardo's 
day,  they  are  in  the  Gothic  style  of  1470,  but  the  choir 
and  the  cupola  are  work  of  the  Renaissance,  and  it 
would  seem  partly  from  the  very  hand  of  Bramante. 
Bramante's  first  work  in  Milan  was  the  transept  of 
S.  Maria  presso  S.  Satiro,  his  second  was  the  choir  and 
cupola  of  this  Church  of  S.  Mary  of  the  Graces.  The 
lower  half  of  the  choir  and  transept  only  is  certainly 
the  master's  work,  but  the  plan  and  composition  of  the 
rest  are  his,  though  the  work  has  been  badly  carried 
out,  and  all  is  covered  up  with  modern  plaster  within. 
Without,  however,  we  see  a  work  of  the  early  Re- 
naissance in  all  its  charm,  and  are  reminded  once  again 
that  however  eager  we  may  be  to  denounce  the  iniquity 
and  brutality  of  the  Sforzas,  it  is  after  all  to  them  we 
owe  the  presence  in  Milan  of  these  two  great  artists, 
Leonardo   da  Vinci  and  Bramante  d'  Urbino,  without 


MILAN  IN  THE  CINQUECENTO  113 

whom  our  pleasure  in  her  would  be  how  much  less 
full  than  it  is. 


MILAN   IN   THE   SIXTEENTH  CENTURY 

In  the  work  of  the  strangers,  Leonardo  da  Vinci  and 
Bramante  d'  Urbino,  Milan  not  only  received  the  most 
beautiful  works  of  art  she  possesses,  but  in  those  brief 
thirty  years  from  1472  to  1500  she  was  more  famous 
than  she  was  ever  again  to  be  in  the  history  of  Italian 
art. 

The  period  of  invasion,  war,  disaster  and  confusion, 
which  caused  the  fall  of  the  Sforza  dynasty  and  reduced 
Milan  to  a  foreign  yoke,  may  not  have  interfered  very 
greatly  with  her  growth,  or  even  with  her  mere  material 
prosperity,  but  it  was  barren  of  great  buildings  and  of 
works  of  art,  and  when  the  city  finally  emerges  as  the 
property  of  a  foreign  Government  the  old  and  gracious 
time  has  passed  away,  and  it  is  a  new  spirit  we  see  in 
all  the  profuse  work  that  was  then  begun,  and  which 
even  yet  so  largely  gives  Milan  her  sumptuous  if 
melancholy  character. 

In  1527  a  new  circle  of  walls  was  built  about  her ; 
in  1549  y^^  another  was  begun,  but  it  is  in  the  palaces, 
courts  and  churches  of  the  Perugian  Alessi  (1512-72), 
of  Vincenzo  Seregno  (1509-94)  and  of  the  Bolognese 
Pellegrino  Tibaldi  (1521-92)  that  we  recognise  the 
Milan  of  the  sixteenth  century,  the  Milan  of  S.  Carlo 
Borromeo.  The  beautiful  Palazzo  Marini,  now  the 
Municipio,  is  perhaps  the  most  charming  of  these 
buildings,  and  is  one  of  the  best  things  Alessio  ever 
achieved,  possessing  as  it  does  in  its  fagade  and  its 
court  something  of  the  allure  of  the  early  Renaissance. 
The  church  of  S.  Vittore,  built  in  1560,  with  a  simple 
exterior,  and  the  fagade  of  S.  Maria  presso  Celso,  are 
imposing,  but  have  not  the  same  delight. 
8 


114  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

It  is  the  Genoese  and  less  lovely  work  of  Alessio  that 
is  recalled  to  us  by  the  work  of  Seregno  in  the  Palazzo 
della  Giustizia,  the  Palazzo  dei  Giurisconsulti,  and  the 
CoUegio  de'  Nobili  in  the  Piazza  de'  Mercanti,  built  in 
1564.  But  the  architect  of  Milan  in  the  time  of 
S.  Carlo  was  Pellegrino  Tibaldi,  the  creator  of  the  fa9ade 
of  the  Cathedral,  which,  as  he  designed  it,  was  so  much 
finer  than  the  Later  Gothic  which  surrounded  it.  To 
this  master  we  owe  the  beautiful  Church  of  S.  Fedele, 
a  work  of  almost  classic  beauty  which  had  a  great 
influence  then  and  later,  an  influence  we  see  in  the 
Church  of  S.  Gaudenzio  at  Novara.  But  S.  Fedele 
does  not  stand  alone  in  Milan ;  we  may  place  beside  it 
as  the  work  of  this  master  the  round  Church  of  S.  Sebas- 
tiano,  built  in  1576,  a  plague  church,  and  one  of  the 
courts  of  the  Episcopal  Palace,  which  is  simple  and 
severe,  as  indeed  S.  Carlo  wished  it,  and  to  some  extent 
the  Palace  itself  as  we  see  it.  At  the  same  time,  Giuseppe 
Meda  was  also  working  in  Milan,  and  to  him  we  owe  the 
beautiful  court  of  the  Seminario. 

S.  Carlo,  to  whom  in  Milan  the  second  half  of  the 
sixteenth  century,  the  period  of  the  Catholic  Reaction, 
may  be  said  to  belong,  died  in  1584,  and  after  an  interval 
of  eleven  years  he  was  succeeded  by  his  nephew,  Cardinal 
Federigo.  To  the  second  Borromeo  archbishop  Milan 
owes  what  she  possesses  of  the  baroque,  but  her  chief 
debt  to  him  lies  in  the  fact  that  he  founded  the  Am- 
brosian  Library.  The  Biblioteca  Ambrosiana  was  built 
to  contain  the  collection  in  1603  by  Fabio  Manzone, 
to  whom  we  also  owe  the  Palazzo  del  Senato.  The 
library  is  one  of  the  most  important  in  Europe,  not 
only  for  its  priceless  collection  of  MSS.,  its  autograph 
letters  of  Petrarch,  Lucrezia  Borgia,  Ariosto,  Tasso  and 
Galileo,  its  volume  of  drawings  by  Leonardo,  its  Virgil 
annotated  by  the  hand  of  Petrarch,  but  also  for  its 
splendid  incunabula.  Here,  too,  on  the  ground  floor, 
are  parts  of  the  beautiful  tomb  of  Gaston  de  Foix,  other 


MILAN  IN  THE  CINQUECENTO  115 

parts  of  which  are  in  the  Castello,  and  a  fresco  by  Luini 
of  a  Christ  crowned  with  Thorns  in  the  hall  of  the  Con- 
fraternity of  the  Holy  Crown,  which  used  to  meet  here. 
For  the  ordinary  traveller,  however,  the  chief  interest 
of  the  Ambrosiana  will  be  found  in  the  Pinacoteca  on 
the  first  floor,  where,  amid  much  of  purely  Milanese 
or  of  mediocre  interest,  will  be  found  a  Madonna  and 
Child  with  Angels  (72)  by  Botticelli,  a  Madonna 
enthroned  with  Saints  and  Angels  by  Borgognone  (54), 
a  Portrait  painted  in  1554  by  Moroni  (312),  Raphael's 
cartoon  for  the  School  of  Athens  in  the  Vatican,  and 
best  of  all  the  famous  Portrait  by  Ambrogio  de  Predis 
of  Bianca  Maria  Sforza,  and  the  unfinished  Portrait  of 
a  Young  Man  which  matches  it  so  delightfully.  It 
is  a  very  various  collection  of  pictures  we  find  here, 
and  as  such  is  extraordinarily  indicative  of  the  con- 
ditions of  art  in  Milan,  where  almost  all  the  greatest 
work  was  done  by  foreigners  for  the  reigning  foreign 
houses  of  Visconti,  Sforza,  France  and  Spain.  The 
Latin  population  of  Milan,  always  so  great  in  energy 
and  life,  might  seem  to  have  expressed  itself  in  art  very 
little  or  not  at  all.  We  see  its  work,  perhaps,  in  the  earlier 
great  churches,  such  as  S.  Lorenzo  and  S.  Ambrogio, 
and  certainly  its  influence  in  the  spaciousness  of  the 
Cathedral,  a  true  Latin  delight  victorious  there  in  spite 
of  everything;  but  in  painting  as  in  sculpture  Milan 
has  little  to  give  us,  and  like  all  Lombardy  for  that 
matter,  nothing  at  all  of  the  first  class.  We  may  explain 
this  how  we  can,  the  fact  remains.  The  two  greatest 
masters  whose  work  is  to  be  found  in  Milan  are  Leonardo 
and  Bramante.  Leonardo  undoubtedly  founded  a 
school,  but  it  came  to  nothing  and  produced  nothing 
of  any  real  importance,  possessed  of  any  real  life. 
His  advent  in  Milan  was  as  disastrous  as  the  advent 
of  Handel  in  England.  It  was  much  the  same  with 
Bramante;  he  came  and  he  went,  leaving  behind  him 
a  few  lovely  and  priceless  things,  and  a  tradition  which 


ii6  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

no  one  who  was  Milanese  knew  how  to  follow  or  to  use. 
It  is  for  the  most  part  the  beautiful  work  of  Italy  we 
admire  and  search  after  in  Milan,  for  Cisalpine  Gaul 
has  scarcely  expressed  herself  there.  She  is  dumb  in 
this  great  and  tumultuous  town,  for  in  truth  she  is 
afar  off,  singing  in  the  fields  under  the  limitless  sky. 


THE  GALLERIES 

When  we  consider  Cisalpine  Gaul,  and  note  the 
riches  of  the  great  plain,  its  deep  and  fertile 
meadows,  the  number  and  splendour  of  its  cities,  the 
energy  of  its  inhabitants,  we  might  expect  to  find  there 
one  of  the  most  flourishing  schools  of  art  in  all  Italy, 
for  painting  especially  must  have  had  every  encourage- 
ment in  a  country  so  wealthy  and  so  civilised  as  this ; 
and  in  the  city  of  Milan,  the  true  metropolis  of  this 
country,  the  greatest  and  the  richest  city  between  the 
Alps  and  the  Apennines,  we  might  have  expected  to 
find  the  citadel  and  the  home  of  a  school  of  painters  at 
least  as  flourishing  as  those  of  Florence  or  Siena. 
What  in  fact  we  find  is  that  neither  Milan  nor  all  Lom- 
bardy  ever  produced  a  painter  of  the  first  rank  at  all. 

If  we  try  to  explain  this  fact,  we  are  compelled  to  do 
so  on  first  principles.  An  examination  of  the  works 
of  the  Lombard  painters  forces  us  to  the  conclusion 
that  the  reason  why  Lombardy  never  produced  a 
great  school  of  painters  was  that  she  was  almost  entirely 
lacking  in  artistic  sense.  What  she  achieved  in  art  was 
not  essentially  artistic :  it  was  realistic,  it  was  decorative, 
it  was  charmingly  pretty  by  turns,  but  as  art  pure  and 
simple  it  had  no  life  in  it. 

On  the  very  threshold  of  our  inquiry  we  are  met  by 
the  fact  that  no  great  personality  appeared  within  her 
borders,  as  Giotto  did  in  the  north  and  Duccio  in  the 
south  of  Tuscany,  to  inspire,  and  to  direct  the  national 


HEAD   OF   CHRIST 

ATTRIBUTED   TO    LEONARDO   DA   VINCI 
nrera,  Milan 


MILAN  :  THE  GALLERIES  117 

genius,  and  to  determine  what  its  future  was  to  be.  In 
Lombardy  there  was  no  national  genius  that  naturally 
expressed  itself  in  painting,  and  the  first  painters  we 
find  between  the  Alps  and  the  Apennines  are  the  merest 
provincial  followers  of  Giotto,  and  indeed  we  may  go  so 
far  as  to  assert  that  there  does  not  exist  a  single  picture 
in  all  this  country  which  does  not  owe  its  origin  to 
Florence,  if  it  be  living  and  not  dead. 

Without  any  genuine  native  talent  for  art,  without 
what  we  may  call  artistic  temperament,  and,  for  this 
reason,  unable  to  produce  a  great  artistic  personality 
and  tradition,  Lombardy  of  necessity  fell  back  upon 
Giotto — that  is  to  say,  upon  a  genius  and  an  influence 
foreign  to  her.  What  followed  might  seem  to  have 
been  inevitable.  Cisalpine  Gaul  was  not  Italy,  and 
therefore  was  not  able  to  make  as  much  use  of  what 
was  being  done  in  Tuscany  as,  for  instance,  Umbria 
was.  Without  a  real  and  native  artistic  impulse,  she 
imitated  what  should  have  inspired  her,  and  treated 
living  principles  as  a  dead  code  to  be  rigidly  kept  or  a 
dead  beauty  to  be  brutally  copied.  If,  before  coming 
to  the  specifically  Lombard  school,  we  glance  at  the 
earlier  North  Italian  masters,  this  will  be  at  once  obvious 
in  their  work. 

The  first  of  these  was  Altichiero  of  Verona  (1330-95), 
an  imitator  of  Giotto,  a  master  whose  work  is  bewilder- 
ing, because,  almost  like  an  amateur,  his  virtues  will  not 
chime  with  his  faults,  his  work  is  often  too  good  to  be 
as  bad  as  it  is,  his  faults  are  so  fundamental  that  we 
are  astonished  at  his  virtues.  Nothing  of  his  remains 
west  of  the  Mincio. 

His  follower,  Pisanello  of  Verona  (1385-1455),  had 
the  excellent  good  fortune  to  come  under  the  influence 
of  the  Umbrian  Gentile  da  Fabriano.  A  great  and  an 
individual  genius,  he  was  the  first  man  to  found  a  school 
in  such  a  world  as  this  of  North  Italy.  In  the  man  as 
we  know  him  he  is  a  court  painter,  and  lovely  as  his  work 


ii8  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

is,  it  is  not  really  of  the  Renaissance  at  all :  it  comes  to 
us  with  all  the  beauty  and  the  appeal  of  a  reminiscence, 
and  has  no  life  of  its  own.  His  work  seems  radiantly 
to  prophesy  of  a  future  that  never  happened. 

Meanwhile  Squar clone  of  Padua  (i 394-1474)  had  felt 
the  influence  of  a  Florentine  master,  one  of  the  greatest, 
Donatello.  So  far  as  we  are  able  to  judge  (for  very 
little  of  Squarcione's  work  remains  to  us — a  Madonna 
in  Berlin,  the  design  of  a  Polyptych  executed  by  assist- 
ants in  Padua,  and  perhaps  a  Madonna,  a  tondo,  in 
Paris) ,  the  greatest  work  of  this  antiquary  was  Andrea 
Mantegna  (1431-1506),  whom  he  adopted  and  brought 
up  in  his  shop.  With  Mantegna  we  come  upon  the 
greatest  genius  of  the  North  Italian  schools,  but  a  genius 
again  wholly  individual,  capable  of  receiving  life  but 
not  of  giving  it  forth.  Immersed  in  antiquity,  he  is 
saved  from  being  a  mere  archaeologist  by  the  living 
art  of  Donatello  and  Jacopo  Bellini,  yet  all  his  pictures 
look  like  a  translation,  more  lovely  perhaps  than  the 
original  ever  was,  but  still  a  translation  which  has  no 
life  in  itself.  Milan  possesses  five  of  his  works.  In  the 
Brera  we  find  the  large  altarpiece  (200)  in  many  com- 
partments with  S.  Luke  in  the  centre,  a  work  of  1454, 
painted  for  the  Church  of  S.  Giustina  of  Padua;  the 
marvellous  Madonna  surrounded  by  a  glory  of  singing 
angels  (298),  and  the  Dead  Christ  (199),  a  later  work.  In 
the  collection  of  Prince  Trivulzio  is  a  Madonna  in  Glory 
with  four  saints  painted  in  1497,  and  in  the  Poldi  Pezzoli 
Gallery  a  late  work,  a  Madonna  and  Child  (625).  None 
of  these  works  shows  Mantegna  in  his  most  characteristic 
mood,  but  they  are  enough  to  tell  us  of  what  his 
genius  was  capable  and  of  the  faults  which  hampered 
him  so  strangely. 

Such  were  the  painters  of  Verona  and  Padua.  Padua, 
in  fact,  had  become  the  art  centre  of  Northern  Italy, 
and  it  was  there  that  a  line  of  painters  was  formed, 
which,  as  I  understand  their  work,  expresses  better  than 


MILAN  :  THE  GALLERIES  119 

any  other  what  there  was  of  native  and  national  genius 
for  art  in  Cisalpine  Gaul.  These  men  were  Ferrarese; 
they  were  formed  in  Padua  upon  the  work  of  Donatello, 
and  their  names  are  Tura,  Cossa,  Roberti  and  Costa. 

Cosimo  Tura  of  Ferrara  was  born  in  1430  and  died  in 
1495 ;  his  ancestors  are  Squarcione,  Donatello  and 
Mantegna,  but  his  rugged  figures  of  stone,  hewn  out  of 
the  rock,  immobile  as  statues,  but  statues  that  are 
already  in  the  rude  grip  of  life,  seem  to  one  at  once  terrible 
and  pathetic  in  the  energy  of  their  conception,  in  their 
desire  for  expression.  He  has  communed  with  his  own 
heart  fiercely  and  without  mercy,  and  has  brought  forth 
an  adamantine  son,  grotesque  as  an  heraldic  monster, 
but  living  and  passionately  eager  to  be  free.  In  his 
fierce  determination  to  express  himself  he  has  forsaken 
the  colours  that  Mantegna  loved  and  forsook  too  at 
last,  and  has  put  beauty  away  from  him,  clinging 
only  to  life,  that  he  may  express  it  and  find  in  it  that 
harmony  which  he  alone  has  known  how  to  strike  out 
of  his  own  soul  with  the  hammer  of  his  genius.  Milan 
possesses  two  of  his  works,  a  Christ  on  the  Cross  (1447), 
a  fragment  in  the  Brera,  and  the  figure  of  a  Bishop  (600) 
in  the  Poldi  Pezzoli  Gallery. 

His  twin  was  his  countryman  Cossa  (1435-80), 
whose  S.  John  Baptist  and  S.  Peter  (449)  in  the  Brera 
is  the  only  work  Milan  possesses  from  that  iron  brush. 
In  the  earlier  work  of  Ercole  Roberti  (1430-96),  their 
fellow- townsman,  we  find  much  of  the  same  austerity, 
but  with  a  certain  loss  of  conviction  and  sincerity. 
Yet  something  more  we  find  too — a  sweetness  and  a 
solemnity  that  their  harshness  and  fierce  passion  had 
not  known  or  had  not  known  how  to  express,  for 
Roberti  has  passed  under  the  influence  of  the  Bellini. 
His  work  in  the  Brera,  a  Madonna  enthroned  with 
Saints  (428),  painted  in  1480,  is  not  among  his  best  works 
perhaps,  but  in  those  monochrome  decorations  we  seem 
for  a  moment  to  have  found  something  of  the  terrible 


120  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

energy  that  consumed  his  masters  and  forced  them  to 
utter  only  the  syllables  of  life. 

In  Lorenzo  Costa  (1460-1535)  we  have  the  decline 
and  the  dissolution  of  this  school,  which  might  perhaps 
in  better  circumstances  have  done  so  much.  The  pupil 
of  Cossa  and  Roberti,  he  became  the  partner  of  Francia 
of  Bologna,  and  at  last  court  painter  at  Mantua.  One 
picture  from  his  hand  is  to  be  found  in  the  Brera,  an 
Adoration  of  the  Magi  (429),  painted  in  1499,  which  I 
think  relieves  us  in  thinking  of  him,  assuring  us  of 
certain  "  happy  moments  "  between  his  youth  and  his 
old  age. 

I  said  that  Costa  became  the  partner  of  Francia 
(1450-15 17),  who  was  a  Bolognese  educated  as  a  gold- 
smith, and  who  practised  painting,  it  might  seem,  on 
the  advice  of  Costa,  who  on  coming  to  Bologna  began  to 
instruct  him  in  his  art.  How  far  are  we  in  Francia's 
prettiness  from  the  founders  of  the  Ferrarese  school ! 
The  Annunciation  (448)  of  the  Brera  and  the  S.  Anthony 
of  Padua  (601)  of  the  Poldi  Pezzoli  Gallery  in  Milan  might 
seem  to  be  Umbrian  rather  than  North  Italian  pictures. 

It  is  fortunate  that  one  of  the  works  Milan  possesses 
of  Timoteo  Viti  (1467-1523),  the  pupil  of  Costa  and 
Francia,  should  be  as  good  as  anything  that  Francia 
has  to  show  us  ;  but  the  true  importance  for  us  of 
Viti  is  that  as  the  master  of  Raphael  he  serves  as  a 
link  between  Tura  and  the  greatest  master  of  the  high 
Renaissance. 

Such  artistic  talent  as  North  Italy  possessed  may 
be  said  to  have  been  exhausted  in  the  production  of  the 
painters  I  have  named,  and  when  we  turn  to  Milan  we 
find  only  a  complete  sterility.  We  have,  it  is  true, 
certain  followers  very  provincial  and  far  off  of  Giotto 
and  Pisanello,  but  of  native  masters  none  at  all.  Foppa, 
the  true  glory  of  Lombardy,  was  a  Brescian,  while  the 
two  artists  who  are  most  closely  connected  with  Milan 
are  absolute   foreigners — Leonardo,  a   Florentine,    and 


MILAN  :  THE  GALLERIES  121 

Bramante,  born  in  Urbino  and  educated  in  Florence. 
Milan,  like  Rome,  was  barren  in  art. 

Those  frescoes  in  the  Duomo  of  Milan  which  recount 
the  life  of  Queen  Theodelinda  may  well  stand  as  the 
masterpiece  of  Milanese  art  in  the  fifteenth  century  ; 
they  are  the  work  of  some  follower  of  Pisanello,  and  they 
are  prettier  than  anything  he  deigned  to  do.  And 
just  that  might  seem  indeed  to  be  the  note  of  the  whole 
school,  the  inevitable  note  of  the  copyist  who  has  no 
original  impulse  of  his  own  and  is  only  eager  to  reap 
where  he  has  not  sown. 

There  remains  to  be  considered  Foppa. 

Vincenzo  Foppa  of  Brescia  was  born  in  1427,  and 
lived  on  till  after  1502.  He  was  the  founder  of  the 
Milanese  school,  but  that  school  might  seem  to  consist 
only  of  himself  and  of  his  great  pupil  Borgognone.  An 
artist  of  great  and  original  powers,  he  was  educated  at 
Padua  in  the  school  of  Squarcione.  His  was  a  lonely, 
starved  temperament  in  a  world  that  was  artistically 
barren  and  dead.  He  seems  later  to  have  understood 
that  he  had  something  in  common  with  Bramante, 
but  his  real  love  was,  I  think,  given  to  Giovanni  Bellini, 
whose  good  fortune  he  must  have  envied.  His  works  in 
Milan  are  happily  plentiful,  two  frescoes  and  an  altar- 
piece  in  many  compartments  (307)  being  in  the  Brera, 
and  three  frescoes  and  two  pictures,  one  a  Madonna 
(305),  in  the  Castello,  while  we  probably  see  one  of  his 
late  works  in  the  Madonna  and  Child  (643)  of  the  Poldi 
Pezzoli  Gallery,  and  the  Palazzo  Trivulzio  holds  another. 
The  Portinari  Chapel  of  S.  Eustorgio  is  covered  with  his 
designs,  and  in  the  Church  Fathers  we  see  his  very  hand. 

That  Madonna  in  the  Palazzo  Trivulzio  gives  us,  I 
think,  his  secret — his  love  of  Giovanni  Bellini ;  and  if  in 
the  SS.  Sebastian  of  the  Brera  and  the  Castello  we  see 
something  at  once  stronger  and  more  completely  his 
own,  they  are,  it  must  be  confessed,  impressive  works. 

Of  Butinone  (1454-1507)  his  pupil  what  can  be  said. 


122  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

or  of  Zenale  (1436-1526),  whose  work  in  the  Griffi 
Chapel  of  S.  Pietro  in  Gessate  in  Milan  was  done  in 
partnership  with  Butinone,  save  that  the  one  is  a  "  whim- 
sical," the  other  a  "skilful"  craftsman  ? 

We  pass  at  once  to  a  painter  more  worthy  of  his  master, 
Borgognone  (1450-1523),  Poppa's  pupil,  a  man  excellent 
as  an  artist  and  full  of  subtle  harmonies  in  his  landscape, 
and  yet  not  without  a  strength  and  almost  country 
roughness  found  in  his  figures. 

Borgognone's  work  in  Milan  is  extraordinarily  plentiful. 
It  greets  you  in  the  churches  of  S.  Ambrogio,  of  S. 
Eustorgio,  of  S.  Sempliciano,  of  S.  Maria  presso  Celso, 
and  of  S.  Maria  della  Passione.  Six  pictures  and  four 
frescoes  are  to  be  found  in  the  Brera,  two  pictures  in 
the  Poldi  Pezzoli  Gallery,  and  the  Borromeo  collection 
boasts  no  less  than  five,  the  Castello  two,  the  Ambrosiana 
Gallery  three,  including  the  early  Madonna  and  Child 
with  Saints  and  Angels.  Little  by  little,  I  think,  as  we 
get  to  know  him  better,  the  study  of  his  work  becomes 
a  study  of  backgrounds.  Those  delicate  and  delightful 
little  scenes  he  would  paint  perhaps  from  real  life  or 
from  a  wonderful  memory  of  some  glimpse  he  had  had  of 
a  city  street,  or  the  reach  of  a  canal,  or  a  byway  in  the 
country,  and  his  certainty  of  vision  as  of  touch  in  these 
things  is  magical  and  beyond  praise,  something  that 
Mr.  Berenson  compares  with  Whistler. 

But  with  Borgognone  the  school  of  Milan,  if  it  can 
be  said  ever  to  have  existed,  comes  suddenly  to  an  end. 
Bramante  appears,  and  after  Bramante  Leonardo. 
They  were  only  not|  an  utter  disaster  for  Milan 
because  there  was  nothing  really  to  destroy.  The 
native  artistic  genius  that  they  might  have  killed 
had  never  existed,  and  their  schools  consist,  as  we 
might  suppose,  of  copyists  and  prettifiers  :  Ambrogio 
de  Predis,  whose  two  portraits  we  have  already  seen 
in  the  Ambrosiana,  and  who  has  another  portrait 
in  the  Poldi  Pezzoli,   a  Portrait  of  Francesco  Brivio 


MILAN  :  THE  GALLERIES  123 

(641) ;  Boltraffio,  whose  charming  works  overflow 
the  private  collections  of  Milan,  who  painted  the  Ivy- 
crowned  Boy  (42)  of  the  Borromeo  Gallery,  the  Man 
and  Woman  Praying  (281)  and  the  Girolamo 
Casio  (319)  of  the  Brera,  the  two  Madonnas  of  the 
Poldi  Pezzoli  Gallery  (642,  660)  and  the  Portrait  of  a 
Man  there  (57),  some  works  in  the  Castello  and  the 
frescoes  in  S.  Maurizio  ;  Luini,  the  subtle  sensualist 
whose  eyes  are  brimming  with  tears,  who  smiles  and 
smiles  at  himself,  considering  his  likeness  to  Leonardo, 
who  has  tried  to  express  everything  prettily  in  self- 
admiration  and  self-pity.  His  work  runs  over  in  the 
Brera,  the  churches  of  Milan  are  full  of  it,  you  find  it 
in  the  Poldi  Pezzoli  Gallery,  in  the  Ambrosiana  and  the 
Borromeo  collections.  And  there  is  nothing  to  say 
about  it.  It  wears  its  heart  upon  its  sleeve,  and  one 
passes  on  with  a  smile.  And  after  him  comes  Ferrari, 
who  was  a  kind  of  repetition  with  an  accompaniment 
of  lyres  and  flutes,  and  Solario  who  is  all  for  fair  women. 
We  turn  from  them,  from  the  two  last  always  reluct- 
antly, to  that  Brescia  which  had  bred  Vincenzo  Foppa, 
where  they  made  armour,  and  we  find  as  it  were  just 
before  evening  three  painters,  not  of  the  first  order, 
but  at  least  men  with  something  to  say  and  a  power 
of  expressing  themselves.  These  men  were  Romanino, 
Moretto  and  Moroni. 

They  were  contemporaries  of  the  great  Venetians 
and  passed  under  their  influence.  Romanino,  born 
in  Brescia  in  1485,  lived  till  1566.  The  Madonna  in 
the  Brera  (98)  which  is  his,  the  only  work  of  his  in  a 
public  collection  in  Milan,  gives  one  some  idea  of  his 
richness,  but  his  more  characteristic  work  is  at  Brescia. 
Moretto  (1498-1554)  has  three  pictures  in  the  Brera, 
a  Madonna  with  SS.  Jerome,  Francis  and  Anthony 
Abbot  (91),  an  Assumption  of  the  Virgin  (92)  and  a 
S.  Francis,  delightful  things,  but  they,  no  more  than 
the  similar  works  at  the  Ambrosiana  and  the  Castello, 


124  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

give  you  the  whole  man,  who  was  a  great  artist,  and  who 
is  seen  to  better  advantage  in  London,  and  of  course 
in  his  native  city.  Of  his  pupil  Moroni  (1520-78) 
the  Brera  gives  us  a  much  better  idea.  He  was  a 
portrait  painter  pure  and  simple,  and  the  Ambrosiana 
has  one,  the  Brera  two  and  the  Castello  one  of  his 
portraits.  His  masterpiece  is  that  delicious  Portrait 
of  a  Tailor  in  the  National  Gallery,  and  in  that  he  comes 
nearest  to  his  master,  and  Milan  cannot  match  it. 

But  happily  for  the  traveller,  the  works  of  the  North 
Italian  schools  by  no  means  fill  the  Brera  and  the  other 
public  galleries  of  Milan.  Many  a  masterpiece  is  to  be 
found  there  of  the  true  Italian  schools,  as  well  as  a  few 
pictures  from  the  North,  and  to  these  we  shall  now 
turn  our  attention. 

To  begin  with  the  Brera.  Here  some  seven  rooms 
are  devoted  to  pictures  of  the  Venetian  school.  In 
the  first  of  these  (Sala  III)  some  of  Moroni's  works 
are  also  hung,  as  well  as  the  Madonna  and  Child  by 
Romanino.  The  earliest  Venetian  master  represented 
is  Alvise  Vivarini,  with  a  Dead  Christ  adored  by  two 
Angels,  an  early  work  of  the  master  ;  but  that  excellent 
pupil  of  the  first  Vivarini,  Carlo  Crivelli,  has  a  room 
almost  to  himself,  in  which  are  hung  no  less  than  six 
of  his  works,  including  the  Madonna  and  Child  with 
Saints  (283),  painted  in  1432,  and  another  Madonna 
and  Child  (193),  a  late  work.  Gentile  Bellini,  who, 
like  Crivelli,  was  influenced  by  the  Paduans,  is  repre- 
sented here  by  the  Preaching  of  S.  Mark  (168),  a  late 
work,  finished  by  his  brother  Giovanni  Bellini,  by 
whom  there  are  three  works  here,  an  early  Pieta  (284), 
a  Madonna  and  Child  (261)  and  another  Madonna 
and  Child  (297),  painted  in  1510,  a  late  picture:  the 
first  two  are  exquisite  specimens  of  his  work.  A  pupil 
of  Alvise  Vivarini,  Cima,  is  very  largely  represented  in 
the  Brera  by  no  less  than  seven  pictures;  indeed  no 
other  gallery  is  so  rich  in  his  work — I  especially  note 


MILAN  :  THE  GALLERIES  125 

the  S.  Peter  with  SS.  John  Baptist  and  Paul  (174) ; 
while  Carpaccio,  a  pupil  and  follower  of  Gentile  Bellini, 
has  three  pictures  here,  S.  Stephen  Disputing  (288), 
painted  in  1514,  and  two  late  works  (307  and  309), 
which  are  only  his  in  part.  Another  pupil  of  Alvise 
Vivarini,  Lorenzo  Lotto,  who  came  under  the  influence 
of  Giovanni  Bellini  and  of  Giorgione,  has  here  three 
Portraits  (253,  254,  255),  all  late  works,  and  a  Pieta 
(244),  painted  in  1545  ;  and  another  disciple  of  Giorgione, 
Bonifazio,  is  represented  here  by  the  Finding  of  Moses 
(209). 

By  the  greatest  of  Giorgione's  pupils,  Titian,  we  have 
a  portrait  here,  Conte  Antonio  Porcia  (2886),  and  a  late 
painting,  a  S.  Jerome  (248),  painted  probably  after 
1550,  and  originally  in  S.  Maria  Nuova  at  Venice.  As 
for  the  portrait,  it  has  so  much  affinity  with  Titian's 
works  of  1540-43  that  it  must  be  given  to  that  period. 
It  was  formerly  in  Castel  Porcia,  near  Pordenone,  and 
was  presented  to  this  gallery  in  1892  by  the  Duchess 
Litta  Visconti.  There  are  three  works  here  by 
Tintoretto:  a  Piet^  (217),  a  S.  Helena  with  Three  Saints 
and  Donors  (230)  and  an  early  work,  the  Finding  of 
the  Body  of  S.  Mark,  of  which  the  last  is  by  far  the  finest. 

By  the  Verona  and  Vicenza  masters  we  have  here 
a  work  by  Michele  da  Verona  (160)  and  another  by 
Liberale,  a  S.  Sebastian,  as  well  as  a  beautiful  Madonna 
enthroned  with  Saints  and  Angels  (165),  one  of  the 
best  works  of  Bartolommeo  Montagna,  painted  in  1499. 
By  other  Northern  masters  we  may  note  the  works 
by  Dosso  Dossi,  the  two  works  by  Rondinelli ;  but  the 
chief  of  them  is,  of  course,  the  Adoration  of  the  Magi, 
an  early  work  by  Correggio  in  his  Ferrarese  style,  a 
notable  picture. 

A  whole  room  (XXVI)  is  given  over  to  the  Late 
Bolognese  masters,  but  these  will  not  detain  us,  though 
our  fathers  would  have  spent  much  time  there.  We 
turn  with  a  real  eagerness  that  they  would  have  failed 


126  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

to  understand  to  the  pictures  of  Gentile  da  Fabriano, 
Piero  della  Francesca,  Luca  Signorelli,  Giovanni  Santi, 
Benozzo  Gozzoli  and,  once  more  at  one  with  our  an- 
cestors, Raphael. 

The  splendid  Polyptych  by  Gentile  da  Fabriano  (497) 
is  an  early  work:  the  Coronation  of  the  Virgin  with 
two  saints  on  either  side,  and  below  in  the  predella 
delightful  scenes  from  the  life  of  the  Virgin,  the  death 
of  S.  Peter  Martyr,  S.  John  Baptist  praying,  S.  Francis 
receiving  the  Stigmata,  and  S.  Dominic.  Another 
great  master,  one  of  the  greatest  Italy  ever  produced, 
is  well  seen  in  the  splendid  Madonna  enthroned  in  a 
beautiful  Bramantesque  hall  amid  saints  and  angels, 
with  Duke  Federigo  of  Urbino  kneeling  before  her.  This 
picture  comes  from  the  Church  of  S.  Bernardino  at 
Urbino,  and  though  it  lacks  perhaps  the  charm  of  the 
National  Gallery  pictures,  it  is  a  monumental  example 
of  Piero  della  Francesca' s  art. 

Piero's  great  pupil,  Luca  Signorelli,  is  represented 
here  by  three  pictures,  a  Madonna  and  Child  with 
Saints  (505)  and  another  Madonna  and  Child  (477), 
and  a  Flagellation  (476),  which  probably  once 
formed  a  single  panel.  The  first  picture,  painted  in 
1500,  is  signed  and  inscribed ;  it  comes  from  the  Church  of 
S.  Francesco  at  Arcevia ;  the  other  two  (the  Flagellation 
is  signed)  come  from  S.  Maria  del  Mercato  at  Fabriano. 
A  picture  by  Benozzo  Gozzoli,  S.  Dominic  restoring  a 
Child  to  Life  (475),  painted  in  1461,  is  also  rather  an 
Umbrian  than  a  Florentine  work. 

We  come  into  the  real  Umbria  indeed  with  the  work 
of  Giovanni  Santi,  the  father  of  Raphael,  who  has  here 
a  charming  picture  of  the  Annunciation  (503) ;  and  to 
the  most  perfect  expression  of  that  school  in  the  glorious 
picture  by  Raphael,  one  of  his  few  really  successful 
subject  panels  in  the  Sposalizio.  It  is  a  priceless 
treasure  that  cannot  be  matched,  but  it  is  so  well  known 
that  to  describe  it  would  be  absurd. 


MILAN  :  THE  GALLERIES  127 

Two  works,  at  any  rate,  by  Northern  masters,  the 
great  and  beautiful  Rembrandt,  so  rare  a  thing  in 
Italy,  a  Portrait  of  his  sister  (614),  an  early  work,  and  the 
Portrait  of  the  Princess  Amalie  by  Vandyck,  should  not 
be  missed.  While  our  eyes  rest  upon  the  Rembrandt 
all  Milan  seems  to  be  nothing  but  make-believe,  and  all 
but  three  or  four  works  here  in  the  Brera  the  merest 
pretence.  The  great  Dutchman  comes  among  these 
Italians  even  in  Milan  like  an  emperor,  and  it  is  they 
who  seem  to  us  as  strangers. 

What  we  chiefly  miss  in  the  Brera  is  the  schools  of 
Tuscany,  and  this  is  to  some  extent  made  up  to  us  in 
the  Poldi  Pezzoli  Museum.  Here  we  have  a  delightful 
Madonna  and  Child  by  Botticelli  (156),  a  good  early 
copy  of  an  Annunciation  (436)  by  Francesco  Pesellino, 
a  work  probably  by  that  rare  master  Andrea  Verrocchio, 
the  profile  of  a  Young  Woman  (157),  an  astonishing  and 
exquisite  thing,  and  a  Triptych  (477),  a  masterpiece 
painted  in  1500  by  Albertinelli.  We  have  also  a  Madonna 
and  Child  with  Angels  (593)  by  Pietro  Lorenzetti  of 
Siena. 

Piero  della  Francesca  is  to  be  seen  here,  too,  in  a  panel 
of  S.  Thomas  Aquinas  (598),  while  the  true  Umbria 
is  found  in  a  beautiful  panel  of  the  Madonna  and  Child 
(603),  perhaps  by  Pietro  Perugino,  or  more  probably  by 
Lo  Spagna.  But  what  we  return  to  again  and  again 
are  those  Tuscan  pictures  which  we  miss  in  the  Brera, 
and  which  seem  here  to  hold  out  a  promise  and  to 
beckon  us  over  the  far-away  Apennines. 


CHAPTER   VI 

CHIARAVALLE  AND  FEMINISM  IN  THE 
THIRTEENTH  CENTURY 

SOME  three  miles  outside  the  Porta  Ticinese,  to  the 
south  of  the  city  of  Milan,  there  stands  a  deserted 
monastery  that  is  at  once  a  shrine  and  a  sepulchre, 
the  shrine  in  Lombardy  of  S.  Bernard,  for  he  founded  it, 
and  the  sepulchre  of  one  of  the  most  amazing  heresies 
that  have  ever  sought  to  destroy  Holy  Church.  The 
place  is  well  worth  a  visit,  and  on  a  spring  or  autumn 
afternoon  is  still  fair  enough  to  attract  us  for  its  own 
sake  ;   it  is  called  Chiaravalle. 

When  S.  Bernard  was  on  his  way  back  from  the 
Council  of  Pisa  in  1135  he  came  on  his  way  to  Milan, 
and  they  would  have  made  him  Archbishop,  as  would 
many  another  city ;  but  he  would  not,  for  he  was  a  monk 
and  the  chief  of  his  Order,  and  his  home  was  at  Clairvaux. 
Nevertheless,  looking  about,  he  spied  the  little  village 
of  Rovegnano,  and  liking  the  place,  and  doubtless  be- 
sought by  the  Milanese  to  do  something  for  them,  he 
consented  to  found  there  a  monastery  of  his  Order  and 
to  name  it  in  memory  of  his  home.  Thus  Rovegnano 
became  Chiaravalle. 

We  know  that  figure,  the  one  really  divine  presence 
in  all  the  years  of  the  twelfth  century,  S.  Bernard,  who 
for  us  at  least  is  less  a  mystic  than  a  man  of  action, 
a  missionary  rather  than  a  monk,  a  true  captain  of  the 

Church.    We  see  him  "  in  ejus  clarissima  et  carissima 

128 


CHIARAVALLE  129 

valle  "  at  Clairvaux;  we  see  him  overcome  Abelard, 
and  send  Louis  vii.  on  his  disastrous  crusade ;  we  see 
him  toiHng  over  the  hard  and  endless  roads  of  Europe, 
and  we  know  his  songs.  Well,  here  at  the  gates  of 
Milan  is  an  abbey  which  he  himself  founded  and  named 
after  that  valley  bright  and  beloved  which  was  his 
home. 

In  1159,  the  date  of  the  foundation  of  Chiaravalle, 
the  Cistercian  Order  was  already  more  than  sixty  years 
old.  The  first  branch,  the  first  reform  of  the  great 
Order  which  S,  Benedict  had  founded,  and  which  had 
in  some  sort  saved  and  civilised  Europe,  was  that  of 
Cluny,  celebrated  for  its  school  and  designed  for  that 
"  luxury  for  God,"  the  splendour  of  His  services.  Cluny 
had  been  established  in  910,  and  nearly  two  hundred 
years  later,  in  1098,  we  see  the  reaction  from  all  that  it 
had  especially  desired  in  the  foundation  of  Citeaux  in 
the  desert  of  Beaune  by  Robert,  Cluniac  Abbot  of 
Molesme.  The  Cistercians,  as  they  were  called,  desired 
above  all  things  "to  be  poor  with  Christ,  who  was 
poor "  ;  they  did  not  give  themselves  to  learning, 
they  refused  every  luxury  for  their  churches,  their 
desire  was  to  live  by  manual  labour,  to  be  poor  and 
humble,  to  possess  nothing  either  for  themselves  or  for 
their  house  or  for  their  Order.  The  "  importunate 
poverty  of  Citeaux  "  became  a  proverb,  and  like  the 
same  claim  of  the  Franciscans  later,  was  a  rock  of  offence 
to  all  who  were  not  their  brethren.  Indeed,  so  greatly 
did  this  poverty  offend  the  time  that  Citeaux,  in  spite  of 
the  saintliness  of  its  third  Abbot,  the  Englishman 
Stephen  Harding,  was  on  the  verge  of  collapse  and  ruin 
when  in  11 13  S.  Bernard  knocked  at  the  door.  Three 
years  later,  at  the  age  of  twenty-five,  he  was  sent  with 
twelve  brethren  to  found  the  monastery  he  called 
Claire  Vallee,  which  we  know  as  Clairvaux,  where  he 
lies  buried  before  the  altar  of  Our  Lady,  as  indeed  is 
most  fitting,  for  was  it  not  he  who  dared  to  add  the 

9 


130  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

three  magnificent  vocatives  at  the  end  of  the  Salve 
Regina  ? — 

O  Clemens,  O  pia,  O  dulcis  Virgo  Maria  ! 
Ora  pro  nobis,  sancta  Dei  genetrix  : 
Ut  digni  efficiamur  promissionibus  Christi. 

The  Cistercian  Order,  established  firmly  by  S.  Bernard, 
was  thus  an  austere  institution  vowed  to  poverty  and 
simplicity  of  life  :  to  this  Order  the  Abbey  of  Chiaravalle 
belonged.^ 

Barbarossa  took  the  place  under  his  protection,  and 
it  had  many  privileges  from  other  emperors.  The 
Milanese,  too,  were  devoted  to  it,  and  many  of  the  rich 
families  in  the  city  made  it  gifts ;  but  it  chiefly  flourished 
by  the  industry  of  the  monks,  who  cultivated  the  land 
they  had  drained,  so  that  in  the  thirteenth  century  it 
possessed  some  400  acres  of  land.  It  thus,  it  might  seem, 
proved  false  to  the  intention  of  its  founder  and  the  rule 
of  its  Order,  so  that  we  are  not  surprised  to  learn  that 
presently  it  became  famous  not  for  its  industry  and 
agriculture  alone,  but  for  its  learning,  and  was  visited 
for  this  by  the  highest  personages  in  the  country,  who 
were  used  to  sojourn  there.  Among  these  was  the 
Archbishop  Ottone  Visconti,  who  died  in  the  monastery, 
where,  too,  the  flower  of  the  Milanese  nobility  went  to 
meet  Beatrice  d'  Este  when  she  came  to  marry  Galeazzo 
Visconti.  Indeed,  the  place  was  so  entrenched  in  the 
traditions  of  Milan  that  it  was  here  the  archbishops  were 

1  The  inscription  on  the  door  between  the  church  and  the 
cloister  may  still  be  read  : — 

"  An.  Grat.  mcxxxv  xi  K1.  Febb.  constructus  e  hoc  monasteriu 
a  bto  Bnardo — abbe  clave  vel  mccxxi  cosecrata  e  eccla  ista  a  do. 
Henrico  Mediolanensi  archiepo  vi  nonas  Mali  in  onoe  see  mar 
careval."  That  is  to  say,  "  In  the  year  of  grace  1135,  on  twenty- 
second  January  was  built  this  monastery  by  Blessed  Bernard, 
Abbot  of  Clairvaux.  In  1221  was  consecrated  this  church  by 
the  Lord  Henry,  Archbishop  of  Milan,  on  2nd  May,  in  honour  of 
S.  Mary  of  Clairvaux." 


CHIARAVALLE  131 

used  to  sleep  on  the  night  before  they  made  their  solemn 
entry  into  Milan  by  the  Porta  Ticinese. 

Such  was  the  monastery  of  Chiaravalle  which 
S.  Bernard  had  founded.  In  the  end  of  the  thirteenth 
century,  however,  a  very  strange  adventure  befell  it. 
Lombardy  was  in  that  century  the  unfortunate  home  of 
a  host  of  heretics,  among  them  the  Oriental  sect  of 
the  Manichees,  who  asserted  a  double  Cause  in  the 
creation  of  the  world,  a  good  and  an  evil.  Among  these 
sectaries  there  appeared  one  day  a  woman  with  a  child, 
which  shortly  afterwards  died.  It  was  said  of  this 
woman  that  she  was  a  fugitive  nun  from  her  native 
land,  which  she  had  left  because  a  monastic  life  did  not 
agree  with  her  amorous  inclinations.  Her  name  was 
Guglielmina,^  and  she  was  a  Bohemian  :  she  claimed 
to  be  the  daughter  of  the  King  of  Bohemia.  For  a 
time  she  lived  at  Porta  Nuova,  then  at  S.  Stefano  in 
Borgagna,  then  at  S.  Pietro  all'  Orto.  She  was  known 
as  extraordinarily  good  to  the  poor,  and  it  seemed  as 
though  all  her  joy  was  in  comforting  the  afflicted ;  indeed, 
she  appeared  so  honest  and  her  charity  so  great  that  she 
entered  the  best  Milanese  society,  made  the  acquaintance 
of  the  most  distinguished  families,  of  priests,  of  nuns  and 
monks,  and  at  last  of  those  of  Chiaravalle.  She  was 
also  received  by  the  Suore  Umiliate,  the  most  exclusive 
company  in  Milan,  and  she  was  seen  to  be  particularly 
friendly  with  a  certain  Andrea  Saramita,  who  had  a 
sister  and  a  daughter  in  the  Umiliate.  No  one  seems 
to  have  aught  but  good  to  say  of  her  ;  yet,  and  here  is 
the  astonishment,  this  woman  was  a  most  pestilent 
heretic,  suffering  the  most  horrible  delusions,  insane, 
and  last  but  not  least,  a  kind  of  thirteenth-century 

1  Wilhelmina.  It  has  been  asserted  by  the  author  of  the 
Annates  of  Colmar  that  she  was  an  EngHshwoman  :  he  empha- 
sises her  beauty :  but  she  was  not  English.  Cf .  Muratori, 
Antichitd  Italiana  (Milano,  1751),  torn.  iii.  p.  309,  diss.  60. 
The  reference  is  wrongly  given  in  Milman,  Hist,  of  Lat.  Christ. 


132  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

feminist  or  "  suffragette."  Just  as  the  Manichees  had 
asserted  that  God  was  both  evil  and  good,  so  she  taught 
that  He  was  male  and  female  ;  and  therefore  she  sought 
to  establish  a  woman  Pope  over  against  the  successor 
of  S.  Peter,  and  a  priesthood  of  women  over  against  the 
successors  of  the  Apostles.  She  attempted  this,  and  in  a 
sense  she  achieved  it  in  the  city  of  Milan  in  the  thirteenth 
century  :  what  she  taught  was  still  more  blasphemous 
and  obscene,  yet  wonderful  to  relate  she  died  in  her  bed, 
unharmed,  though  she  must  have  smelt  furiously  of  the 
faggot.  That  price,  however,  was  paid  later  by  her 
woman  Pope  and  others. 

But  let  us  return  to  Guglielmina,  for  her  story  is  like 
a  monstrous  fairy  tale.^  Briefly,  what  she  asserted  was 
as  follows  : — 

She  declared,  first,  that  she  herself,  daughter  of  Con- 
stance, Queen  of  Bohemia,  was  the  Holy  Spirit  incarnate 
in  the  feminine  sex. 

Secondly,  that  even  as  the  Archangel  Gabriel  had 
announced  to  Mary  the  Incarnation  of  the  Divine  Word, 
so  the  Archangel  Raphael  had  announced  to  Queen 
Constance  the  Incarnation  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  this 
on  Whitsunday,  on  which  day  also,  a  complete  year  after, 
she,  Guglielmina,  had  been  born. 

She  asserted,  thirdly,  that  as  Christ  was  true  God  and 
true  Man,  so  she  was  true  God  and  true  Woman  (true 
Man  in  the  feminine  sex),  and  that  she  had  been  born 
for  the  salvation  of  Jews,  Saracens  and  Heretics,  even 
as  Christ  had  been  born  ^or  the  salvation  of  Christians. 

Fourthly,  that  she  must  die  according  to  the  flesh,  but 
not  according  to  her  Divine  nature,  even  as  Christ. 

1  Muratori  {ubi  cit.)  examined  all  the  contemporary  docu- 
ments in  the  Bib.  Ambrosiana :  "  II  Process©  autentico  d'  essa, 
formato  1'  Anno  1300  e  la  Storia  de'  siioi  errori,  compilata  del 
Puricelli,  e  scritta  a  penna."  The  Processo  is  entitled  "  Contra 
Guilelmam  Bohemam,  vulgo  Guilielminam,  ej  usque  Sectam." 
Cf.  also  F.  Tocco,  Guglielma  Bohema  e  %  Guglielmiti  (Roma,  1901). 


CHIARAVALLE  133 

She  insisted,  fifthly,  that  she  would  rise  again  with  a 
human  body  of  female  sex  before  the  day  of  the  final 
Resurrection,  and  would  ascend  into  heaven  in  the  sight 
of  her  disciples. 

Sixthly,  that  as  Christ  had  left  S.  Peter  as  His  vicar  on 
earth  to  rule  His  Church,  so  she  also  left  as  her  vicar 
on  earth  Mayfreda  of  the  Umiliate. 

Seventhly,  she  asserted  that  this  Mayfreda,  in  imitation 
of  S.  Peter,  would  celebrate  Mass  at  the  Sepulchre  of 
the  Holy  Spirit  Incarnate,  and  that  she  would  solemnly 
repeat  the  same  Mass  in  the  Metropolitan  Church  of 
Milan  and  in  Rome. 

Eighthly,  she  asserted  that  Mayfreda  should  be  a  true 
Papessa,  endowed  with  the  power  of  the  Pope  himself, 
and  that  even  as  the  Pope  and  the  Papacy  would  give 
way  to  and  be  abolished  by  this  Papessa,  so  would 
be  baptized  Jews,  Saracens  and  other  peoples  who  were 
without  the  Roman  Church. 

Ninthly,  to  the  Four  Gospels  would  succeed  four  new 
Gospels  that  Guglielmina  would  order  to  be  written. 

Tenthly,  that  as  Christ  after  the  Resurrection  per- 
mitted Himself  to  be  seen  by  His  disciples,  so  would  she 
be  seen  by  hers. 

Eleventhly,  she  ordained  that  all  should  visit  the 
Monastery  of  Chiaravalle,  where  she  would  be  buried, 
and  that  all  would  thus  gain  indulgences  equal  to  those 
to  be  won  by  going  to  Jerusalem  to  the  Holy  Sepulchre. 
She  asserted  that  pilgrims  would  come  to  visit  her 
sepulchre  from  all  parts  of  the  world. 

Finally,  she  proclaimed  that  to  all  her  disciples  perse- 
cution and  death  would  come,  even  as  they  came  to  the 
Apostles  of  Christ,  and  that  one  of  these,  like  Judas, 
would  betray  them  into  the  hands  of  the  Inquisition. 

Such  was  the  farrago  of  nonsense  that  distinguished 
this  thirteenth-century  feminist.  It  is  certainly  more 
blasphemous  than  many  of  the  claims  put  forward  to-day 
in  the  twentieth  century,  but  not  inherently  more  absurd. 


134  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

Then  as  now  there  were  many  who  took  these  things  for 
good  sense,  who  believed  in  them  and  were  ready  to  go 
to  the  stake  for  the  sake  of  such  things.  Then  as  now 
the  good  sense  of  the  world  finds  itself  amused  by  them, 
but  incapable  of  considering  them  seriously. 

The  most  extraordinary  thing  about  the  matter  of 
Guglielmina  is  that  she  was  not  interfered  with.  She 
died  in  1281,  and  was  buried,  as  she  had  foretold,  in  the 
Monastery  of  Chiaravalle,  though  she  was  first  interred 
at  S.  Pietro  all'  Orto.  Nor  was  this  interment  a  secret 
business,  rather  it  was  very  honourable.  One  of  the 
monks  spoke  her  Panegyric,  praised  her  holy  life,  and 
attributed  miracles  or  something  like  them  to  her. 
Lamps  and  tapers  were  burnt  about  her  tomb.  Three 
times  in  the  year  her  feast  was  celebrated  by  her  devotees 
at  the  monastery,  and  the  common  people  called  her 
Saint. 

Perhaps  during  her  lifetime  her  blasphemous  asser- 
tions founded  only  a  secret  cult ;  perhaps  only  her  good 
deeds  and  not  her  heresies  were  known  abroad  ;  how- 
ever it  may  be,  she  died  unmolested  and  had  honourable 
sepulture  at  Chiaravalle.  It  was  not  till  the  year  1300, 
nineteen  years  after  her  death,  that  the  Church  began  to 
notice  this  new  sect.  It  was  then  at  once  completely 
stamped  out. 

During  these  years  Mayfreda  had  celebrated  blas- 
phemous Masses  in  her  house,  her  followers  were  used  to 
kiss  her  hand  and  to  receive  from  her  a  ridiculous 
benediction.  But  this  could  not  go  on  for  ever.  In 
the  year  1300  the  Church  seems  to  have  discovered  the 
sect.  Guglielmina's  bones  were  taken  up  and  burned, 
her  selpulchre  was  destroyed,  and  Andrea  Saramita 
and  the  Umiliata  Mayfreda  were  condemned  and 
burned  also.  It  is  an  amazing  story.  One  wonders, 
after  all,  whether  it  can  be  true.  Were  these  people 
really  guilty  of  this  horrible  and  monstrous  impiety, 
or  were  they  the  victims  of  vulgar  gossip  or  worse  ? 


CHIARAVALLE  135 

Muratori  certainly  accepts  the  whole  story  as  absolutely 
genuine,  and  his  opinion  is  not  lightly  to  be  questioned. 
And  since  we  too  must  accept  it,  it  might  seem  that  even 
the  most  anticlerical  among  us  will  be  compelled  to 
think  of  such  a  man  as  S.  Peter  Martyr,  of  such  an  in- 
stitution as  the  Inquisition,  as  necessary  to  the  sanity 
of  the  world,  and  after  all  on  the  side  of  sweetness 
and  light. 

Chiaravalle,  with  its  memories  of  S.  Bernard  and  its 
strange  connection  with  Guglielmina,  was  suppressed 
in  1797.  The  church  as  we  see  it  is  nobly  picturesque 
and  beautiful,  but  is  falling  into  decay.  Little  is  to 
be  seen  within  :  the  tomb  of  Archbishop  Ottone  Vis- 
conti,  who  died  here,  and  little  beside.  As  a  piece  of 
architecture  the  church  is  interesting  because  it  has  a 
central  tower.  What  T  think  is,  in  its  own  way,  quite 
as  interesting,  however,  is  the  stemma  or  coat  of  the 
monastery,  a  relief  of  which  may  still  be  seen  on  the  door. 
It  is  a  stork  which  bears  in  its  beak  a  pastoral  staff.  For 
Roberto  Rusca  tells  us  that  the  monks  of  Chiaravalle 
assumed  the  stork  for  their  stemma  because  "  this 
pious  bird  seeing  its  parents  old  and  featherless,  took 
them  into  its  own  nest,  brought  them  food  and  stripped 
itself  to  cover  their  nakedness.  And  so  monks  shall 
use  this  bird  for  a  sign  that  they  are  to  be  charitable 
to  the  poor  and  afflicted."  However  that  may  be,  we 
know  that  the  whole  territory  of  Rovegnano  was  covered 
by  numerous  colonies  of  storks,  and  must  have  been 
exceedingly  liable  to  floods  before  the  monks  drained  it. 
One  misses  them  there  to-day,  the  passing  of  their 
white  figures,  their  unhurried  footsteps,  their  friendly 
lights,  their  soothing  and  consolatory  chants,  their 
humanity  and  their  confirmation  to  us  of  Europe.  Here 
in  Chiaravalle  there  is  only  emptiness,  and  what 
S.  Bernard  built  remembers  him  now  no  more. 


CHAPTER   VII 
THE  CERTOSA  OF  PAVIA 

AT  Chiaravalle,  as  we  have  seen,  we  have,  though 
in  ruin  and  decay,  an  abbey  of  the  Cistercian 
Order,  founded  by  S.  Bernard  himself :  it  is  something 
quite  different  we  find  at  the  Certosa,  the  Certosa  of 
Pavia.  Here  we  have  a  Carthusian  priory,  the  most 
sumptuous  in  the  world,  founded  not  by  a  saint  but 
by  a  tyrant,  and  not  for  joy  but  in  expiation  of  a 
monstrous  crime. 

It  is  true  that  the  Carthusian  Order,  like  the  Cistercian, 
was  a  reform  of  the  Benedictines,  and  that  Robert, 
Cluniac  Abbot  of  Molesme,  who  had  founded  the  Cis- 
tercians, may  be  said  to  have  launched  the  Carthusians 
and  that  while  he  was  still  at  Molesme.  For  it  seems 
that  S.  Bruno,  born  at  Cologne  in  1030,  and  educated 
at  the  famous  episcopal  school  of  Rheims,  was  on 
account  of  his  austerities  much  persecuted  by  his 
Bishop,  so  that  he  determined  to  flee  the  world,  and 
to  this  end  sought  out  S.  Robert  of  Molesme,  who  sent 
him  to  S.  Hugh,  Bishop  of  Grenoble,  who  in  1086  led 
him  and  his  six  companions  to  a  desolate  spot  on  the 
Alps,  more  than  10,000  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea. 
Here  S.  Bruno  built  an  oratory,  and  set  about  it  seven 
tiny  huts,  in  which  he  dwelt  with  his  companions.  Thus 
was  founded  the  Grande  Chartreuse  and  the  Carthusian 
Order,  an  Order  of  hermits  who  dwelt  together  and  ate  in 
common.    These  early  Carthusians  would  seem  to  have 

followed  the  rule  of  S.  Benedict,  only  they  observed  a 

136 


THE  CERTOSA  OF  PA  VIA  137 

perpetual  fast,  never  ate  meat,  and  divided  their  time 
between  manual  labour,  learning  and  prayer.  They 
said  matins  and  vespers  together  in  their  oratory,  but 
the  Little  Hours  alone  each  in  his  hut.  Gradually 
certain  customs  which  grew  up  among  them  came  to 
have  the  force  of  a  rule,  till  in  1368  these  were  gathered 
up  and  written  out,  and  being  approved,  became  the 
Statutes  of  the  Order. 

The  Carthusians  recognise  two  classes  of  monks, 
the  Fathers  and  the  Conversi  or  Lay  Brothers,  and 
among  these  are  again  three  degrees — to  wit,  the  pro- 
fessed, the  novices  and  the  postulants.  Each  monk, 
as  at  the  foundation  of  the  Order,  still  lives  in  a 
separate  hut  of  five  small  rooms  set  about  a  tiny 
cloister  opening  on  a  little  garden.  The  rule,  which 
is  very  hard,  but  which  conserves  the  individual 
privacy  of  the  monk,  has  never  been  altered  or 
reformed.  The  monasteries  of  the  Carthusians  are 
found  in  all  countries,  and  are  known  in  France  as 
Chartreuses,  in  Italy  as  Certose,  in  Spain  as  Cartuje, 
and  in  England  as  Charterhouses.^ 

It  is,  then,  to  a  house  of  this  Order,  and  that  the  most 
sumptuous  and  splendid  in  the  world,  that  we  come 
when,  on  our  way  from  Milan  to  Pavia,  we  leave  the 
train  at  the  wayside  station  of  Certosa.  All  the  greater 
Carthusian  houses  look  like  walled  villages,  but  the 
Certosa  of  Pavia  looks  like  a  city,  and  it  is  indeed 
different  in  many  ways  from  every  other  monastery 
of  the  Order. 

To  begin  with,  the  Certosa  of  Pavia,  for  all  its  appear- 
ance of  solitude,  is  not  built  in  a  waste  or  desert  place 
like  the  Grande  Chartreuse,  or  like  the  first  house  of  the 
Order  in  England  on  the  verge  of  a  forest :  it  is  estab- 

y  1  The  Certosa  of  Pavia  was  dedicated  to  the  Blessed  Virgin  on  her 

Nativity,  September  8,  1396.  In  England  before  the  change  of 
religion  there  were  twelve  Carthusian  Houses.  To-day,  so  far  as 
I  know,  there  is  one  at  Parkminster  in  Sussex. 


138  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

lished  within  a  few  miles  of  the  city  of  Pavia,  one  of 
the  most  important  and  famous  capitals  of  Lombardy, 
and  in  this  it  follows  the  later  custom  of  the  Order, 
which  on  occasion  was  used  to  establish  houses  in  or 
near  great  cities  or  towns,  as  the  Charterhouse  in 
London,  and  the  Certosa  in  the  Val  d'  Ema,  close  to 
Florence. 

In  the  second  place,  it  has  nothing  about  it  of  the 
harsh  simplicity  of  the  Grande  Chartreuse  or  the  rural 
seclusion  of  modern  Parkminster ;  it  is  one  of  the 
most  sumptuous  monasteries  in  the  world,  and  though 
built  in  the  monotonous  plain  is  surrounded  by 
riches. 

Lastly,  it  owes  its  foundation,  as  I  have  said,  not  to 
a  saint  but  to  a  murderer,  a  man  with  a  monstrous 
crime  upon  his  soul,  the  worldlj.  benefits  of  which  he 
was  then  enjoying,  Giovanni  Galeazzo  Visconti. 

In  the  year  1354,  when  the  great  Archbishop  Giovanni 
Visconti  died,  he  was  succeeded  in  his  great  lordship 
by  his  three  nephews,  Matteo,  Bernabo  and  Galeazzo. 
The  first  ruled  in  Bologna,  Lodi,  Piacenza,  Parma  and 
Bobbio,  the  second  in  Cremona,  Crema,  Brescia  and 
Bergamo,  but  Galeazzo  held  Pavia,  Como,  Novara, 
Vercelli,  Asti,  Tortona  and  Alessandria.  The  two 
great  cities  of  Milan  and  Genoa  the  three  governed  in 
common. 

In  1355  Matteo  died,  and  his  brothers  ruled  the 
whole  lordship  together,  Galeazzo  holding  his  court  at 
Pavia  and  Bernabo  at  Milan.  Galeazzo  died  in  1378, 
and  was  succeeded  in  his  part  of  the  Visconti  domain 
by  his  son,  Giovanni  Galeazzo.  There  now  began 
one  of  those  brutal  internecine  struggles  which  are  so 
common  among  the  ruling  families  of  Italy.  Bernabo 
and  his  sons  determined  to  get  possession  of  Gian 
Galeazzo's  estate  ;  on  the  other  hand,  he  made  up  his 
mind  to  supplant  his  uncle  and  to  unite  the  whole 
Visconti  dominion  in  his  own  person.     Physically  the 


THE  CERTOSA  OF  PA  VIA  139 

man  was  a  coward,  and  he  did  not  disguise  the  fact :  he 
shut  himself  up  in  Pavia  and  plotted  his  way  to  victory. 
Immersed  as  his  enemies  thought  in  religious  exercises, 
he  but  prepared  his  treason.  In  1385  he  made  known 
his  intention  of  going  on  pilgrimage  to  Our  Lady  of 
Varese.  Leaving  Pavia  with  a  bodyguard  of  Germans, 
he  passed  near  Milan,  his  uncle  and  cousins  coming  forth 
to  meet  him.  When  he  saw  them  in  his  power  he  spoke 
quietly  to  his  Germans,  who  surrounded  the  unsuspecting 
company  and  took  them  prisoners.  Then  he  suddenly 
marched  into  Milan,  proclaimed  himself  Duke,  and 
poisoned  his  rivals  in  the  dungeon  where  he  had  cast 
them,  at  the  castle  of  Trezzo.  This  is  the  man,  a 
criminal,  a  coward,  but  a  great  ruler,  to  whom  we  owe  the 
foundation  of  the  Duomo  of  Milan,  and  in  expiation  of 
the  crime  which  got  him  his  power,  the  foundation  of  the 
Carthusian  monastery  of  Pavia. 

The  Certosa  was  suppressed  as  a  religious  house  first 
in  1782  by  the  Emperor  Joseph  11.,  and  then,  after  a 
brief  restoration  in  1843,  finally  with  the  rest  of  the 
Italian  religious  houses  in  1866.  It  is  now  a  national 
monument,  and  it  costs  a  franc  to  enter  it,  as  it  does 
to  enter  the  Ufiizi  Gallery  or  the  Brera.  It  is  a  national 
monument,  and  of  all  the  robberies  the  Italian  Govern- 
ment has  perpetrated  under  the  cloak  of  justice  and 
popular  government  this  seems  to  me  to  be  the  most 
justified.  At  least,  I  think  we  resent  it  less  than  we  do 
the  shameful  theft  of  S.  Francesco  at  Assisi,  or  any  of 
the  thousand  crimes  that  have  left  the  convents  of  Italy 
desolate  and  turned  them  into  barracks  or  post  offices 
or  worse.  For  the  Certosa  of  Pavia  might  seem  never  to 
have  been  a  true  monastery  at  all.  Its  fame  and  its 
incomparable  and  lavish  beauty  have  almost  nothing  to 
do  with  religion.  It  is  not  the  house  of  God  and  of  His 
servants  we  see  there,  but  the  magnificent,  proud  and 
boastful  mausoleum  of  the  Visconti  lords  and  of  their 
more  pretentious  successors  the  Sforza.     Pathetically 


140  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

insolent  even  in  death,  they  lie  there  in  all  their  painted 
splendour  uncontrite  and  unashamed,  and  the  only 
prayers  that  can  ever  have  been  said  there  must  have 
begun  with  an  invocation  of  their  clemency,  and  the 
only  chants  must  have  sung  their  fulsome  praise. 
Nowhere  in  the  world  has  the  pride  of  men — and  of 
such  men — faced  God  out  with  so  strange  an  effrontery : 
not  at  the  Escorial,  where  the  Spanish  kings  for  all  their 
cruel  pride,  frozen  into  silence  amid  those  peaks,  have 
laid  themselves  down  at  last  in  all  humility;  certainly 
not  at  S.  Denis  or  Westminster,  where  in  the  whispering 
aisles  men  still  pray  and  the  dead  are  a  little  beloved, 
for  they  were  our  own.  But  these  were  kings,  and  their 
royalty  demands  of  us  at  least  the  splendour  of  beauty. 
At  the  Certosa,  more  sumptuous  by  far,  men  have  in- 
terred in  marbles  so  precious  that  they  can  never  be 
broken  a  succession  of  bandits  who  knew  no  faith  and 
who  get  no  reverence,  whom  no  one  ever  thinks  of  with 
kindness,  enthusiasm  or  pride,  whose  crimes  are  all 
that  they  have  written  on  the  page  of  history.  Here  in 
unregarded  splendour  lies  unremembered  till  the  Day 
of  Judgment  il  Gian  Biscione,  Gian  Galeazzo,  murderer 
and  coward,  the  founder  of  this  mausoleum ;  here  is 
quenched  the  blood-thirst  of  Gian  Maria  of  the  same 
house ;  here,  in  the  remorseless  locked  marble,  Filippo 
has  hidden  his  vices  and  his  cunning  ;  Francesco  Sforza 
and  his  treason  are  imprisoned  here,  and  Galeazzo 
Maria  with  his  vanities  and  his  lusts ;  and  over  them  all 
hovers  the  dread  they  had  of  the  assassin's  knife,  the 
terror  of  their  end,  the  pestilence,  the  cruelty,  the 
oppression,  the  fraud,  the  labyrinthine  plots,  the  murder 
and  the  broken  faith  by  which  they  lived  and  died. 
In  all  this  cold  and  cruel  and  sumptuous  place,  where  art 
seems  for  all  its  joy  and  health  and  wealth  and  willingness 
to  have  died  on  the  threshold  and  worked  with  ghostly 
and  inhuman  hands,  you  will  not  find  a  touch  of  human 
dignity  :    these   bourgeois,  with  commonplace,   vicious 


THE  CERTOSA  OF  PA  VIA  141 

and  cunning  faces,  heavy  features,  bloated  and  stupid, 
these  are  their  kings  in  Lombardy,  and  all  the  genius  of 
Italy  has  not  sufficed  to  make  them  noble. 

The  gate  of  the  Certosa  di  Pavia,  so  picturesque  in 
itself  and  beautiful  with  the  fading  frescoes  of  Bernardino 
Luini,  stands  more  than  half  a  mile  from  the  station. 
It  opens  on  the  great  courtyard  which  stands  before  the 
western  fagade  of  the  church,  one  of  those  gorgeous 
frontispieces  so  peculiarly  Italian,  having,  architec- 
turally, little  or  no  relation  to  the  building  which  lies 
behind,  but  in  themselves  complete  works  of  art.  Every 
Carthusian  monastery  is  dedicated  to  the  Virgin  Mother 
of  God,  nor  is  the  Certosa  of  Pavia  an  exception,  for 
here  across  this  fagade  of  rich  and  elaborated  marbles, 
amid  delicate  arabesques  and  numerous  bas-reliefs, 
we  may  read  the  inscription  invoking  the  protection 
of  Mary  the  Virgin,  at  once  Mater  et  Filia  et  Sposa  Dei. 
Those  bas-reliefs,  which  rather  enrich  than  decorate  a 
frontispiece  already  too  elaborate  and  confused,  relate 
for  the  most  part  the  story  of  the  founding  of  the 
monastery  and  the  funeral  of  the  founder,  who  was 
borne  hither  from  Marignano  in  November  1443 — the 
triple  murderer,  Giovanni  Galeazzo  Visconti.  But 
among  the  more  important  of  them  we  may  trace 
certain  smaller  plaques,  on  which  are  to  be  found 
scenes  from  the  life  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  of  S.  John 
the  Baptist,  who  so  frequently  shares  with  Our  Lady 
the  dedication  of  a  Carthusian  house,  but  here  would 
seem  to  stand  as  the  patron  of  the  founder  ;  and  of 
those  true  Milanese  heroes,  S.  Ambrose  and  S.  Siro. 

This  extraordinarily  rich  and  beautiful  work,  perhaps 
the  finest  thing  of  its  kind  that  the  Renaissance  con- 
ceived, was  begun  in  1491  by  Giovanni  Antonio  Amadeo. 
It  was  for  long  attributed  to  Borgognone  the  painter, 
and  indeed  the  whole  has  rather  the  effect  of  painting 
than  of  architecture. 


142  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

The  church  is  built  in  the  form  of  a  Latin  cross,  with  a 
very  beautiful  cupola,  a  delightful  and  lovely  inspiration, 
above  the  crossing.  Within,  the  church  consists  of 
three  Gothic  naves,  with  fourteen  side  chapels,  divided 
from  the  nave,  as  are  the  Renaissance  transepts  and  choir, 
by  elaborate  bronze  gates.  But  rich  as  the  interior  is, 
one  is  continually  forced  to  agree  with  Street  when,  in 
speaking  of  this  building,  he  says :  "  It  is  hardly  possible 
to  scan  or  criticise  the  architecture  of  such  a  building ; 
...  it  is  better  to  follow  the  guidance  of  the  cicerone, 
and  to  look  at  the  pictures  behind  the  many  altars  set 
round  with  precious  stones  and  enclosed  within  reredoses 
made  of  such  an  infinite  variety  of  marbles,  that,  with 
some  degree  of  envy,  one  thinks  how  precious  such  an 
array  would  be  on  this  side  the  Alps,  even  though  it  were 
spread  through  fifty  churches." 

Following  his  advice,  we  come  to  the  first  chapel  on 
the  left,  in  which  is  a  Renaissance  fountain  by  the  two 
Mantegazza,  Antonio  and  his  more  talented  brother 
Cristoforo.  In  the  second  chapel  is  the  upper  part  of 
that  altarpiece,  one  of  the  master-works  of  Perugino, 
which  is  one  of  the  greater  treasures  of  the  National 
Gallery.  As  we  see  it  here  in  the  Certosa,  this  altarpiece 
of  six  compartments  consists  entirely  of  copies,  save 
the  upper  central  panel,  of  God  the  Father,  which  is  the 
original  work  of  Perugino.  At  the  sides  of  this  of  old 
stood  two  panels  representing  the  Annunciation,  which 
have  disappeared,  and  below  was  the  triptych  we  know  so 
well  in  London,  the  Virgin  adoring  her  Infant  Son,  with 
S.  Michael  on  one  side  and  S.  Raphael  with  Tobias  on 
the  other.  According  to  Vasari,  Perugino  painted  this 
altarpiece  for  the  monastery,  which  in  1786  is  said  to 
have  sold  that  part  of  it  now  in  London  to  one  of  the 
Melzi  family ;  but  the  Certosa  was  suppressed  in  1782,  so 
that  it  seems  more  than  likely  that  this  nefarious  traffic 
was  the  work  rather  of  the  Austrian  Government  than 
of  the  monks.     However  that  may  be,  the  Melzi  family 


THE  CERTOSA  OF  PA  VIA  143 

by  hook  or  by  crook  possessed  themselves  of  it  and  sold 
it  to  the  National  Gallery  in  1856. 

Close  by  this  mutilated  altarpiece  we  have  a  noble 
work  by  Borgognone,  the  Four  Great  Church  Fathers ; 
and  in  the  sixth  chapel  there  is  another  work  by  this 
great  Lombard  master,  S.  Ambrose  and  Four  Saints,  dated 
1490,  which  with  the  following  year,  1491,  marks  the 
period  of  Borgognone's  work  here,  although  this  master 
painted  some  five  works  for  the  Certosa.  Perhaps 
the  most  remarkable  and  gifted  of  the  true  Lombard 
masters,  Borgognone  was  the  follower  of  Foppa,  and 
though  his  talent  is  a  limited  one,  he  at  least  escaped  that 
blight  of  prettiness  which  overwhelmed  so  many  of  his 
countrymen  and  his  contemporaries.  His  real  signifi- 
cance as  a  religious  painter  has  never  properly  been 
allowed  for  or  understood ;  but  it  remains  true  neverthe- 
less that  when  most  of  his  contemporaries  all  over  Italy 
were  wholly  without  the  religious  sense  he  was  in 
possession  of  it,  so  that  it  informs  and  distinguishes 
all  his  art  as  it  had  done  that  of  Angelico,  and  as  it  was 
doing  that  of  Perugino,  but  with  the  Lombard  in  a 
less  divine  fashion.  As  a  painter  pure  and  simple,  he 
is  as  near  to  being  a  great  master  as  any  that  Lombardy 
ever  produced,  and  his  reputation  must  continually 
increase,  for  his  strong,  sensitive  and  exquisite  work 
remains  as  something  real  and  sincere  in  our  minds 
when  we  are  weary  of  the  sweetness  of  Luini  and  the 
prettiness  of  Gaudenzio  Ferrari.  But  with  him  the 
tradition  of  sincerity  and  strength  which  Foppa  had 
established  in  Lombardy  comes  to  an  end. 

Nowhere  better  than  here  shall  we  be  able  to  appreci- 
ate Borgognone's  work,  surrounded  as  it  is  by  the 
achievements  of  Leonardo's  hapless  Lombard  pupils. 
Northern  Italian  art,  to  be  sure,  has  nothing  more  lovely 
to  show  us  than  the  Coronation  of  the  Virgin  with  the 
kneeling  figures  of  Francesco  Sforza  and  Ludovico  il 
Moro.    The  beauty  of  the  landscape,  of  the  figures,  of 


144  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

Mary  and  the  Apostles,  convinces  us  of  the  high  place 
to  which  the  art  of  Borgognone  had  been  called,  and 
reminds  us  that  if  nothing  but  his  work  remained  to  us 
we  should  know  that  Lombardy  had  produced  at  least 
one  master. 

Here,  too,  we  have  two  beautiful  fragments,  the 
recumbent  figures  of  Ludovico  il  Moro  and  Beatrice 
d'  Este,  by  Cristoforo  Solari,  the  brother  of  Andrea,  the 
pupil  of  Leonardo.  The  monument  from  which  these 
statues  come  was  that  erected  to  Beatrice  by  her  husband 
in  the  apse  of  S.  Maria  delle  Grazie  in  Milan.  It  was 
early  mutilated  and  removed  to  one  of  the  aisles  there, 
and  about  a  hundred  years  later  was  broken  up  and 
sold.  Oldrado  da  Lampugnano  bought  these  two 
statues  for  the  Certosa,  and  we  can  thus  see  this 
famous  Duke  and  Duchess  of  the  Sforza  house  as  they 
lived.  For  these  works  are  not  only  faithful  and  living 
portraits,  but  the  highest  achievement  of  Lombard 
sculpture  and  the  master- works  of  that  Solari  called  "  II 
Gobbo,"  for  he  was  a  hunchback,  who  carved  the  Adam 
and  Eve  on  the  fagade  of  the  Duomo  of  Milan  and  the 
Christ  at  the  Column  in  the  sacristy,  works  which  give 
no  real  idea  of  his  genius.  We  shall  never  see  the  tomb 
so  brutally  destroyed,  and  yet  it  had  a  sentimental 
interest  as  great  as  its  artistic  beauty.  For  it  was  by 
this  tomb  of  his  wife  that  II  Moro  watched  all  through 
the  night  before  his  escape  from  Milan  on  the  approach 
of  the  French.  *'  She  had  been  a  support  to  him  in 
previous  hours  of  danger,  and  this  was  a  last  and 
touching  proof  of  the  attachment  which  he  had  always 
shown  her  while  living,  by  associating  her  name  with  his 
in  all  public  acts  and  inscriptions,  and  by  causing  her 
portrait  to  be  always  painted  with  his  own.  Had  she 
lived  he  might  perhaps  have  been  spared  the  loss  of  his 
kingdom  and  those  eight  weary  years  of  captivity  in  the 
castle  of  Loches." 

To  the  east  of  the  north  transept  and  to  the  left  of  the 


THE  CERTOSA  OF  PA  VIA  145 

choir  stands  the  old  sacristy.  Over  the  door  are  fine 
medallions  by  Amadeo  of  the  Dukes  of  Milan.  Here  is  a 
curious  ivory  altarpiece  with  sixty-seven  reliefs  and 
eighty  small  statues  of  prophets  and  personages  from 
the  Old  and  New  Testaments  by  the  Florentine  Bal- 
dassare  degli  Embriachi,  a  work  of  the  fifteenth  century. 
On  the  left  is  a  picture  of  S.  Augustine  by  Borgognone. 

In  the  choir,  before  the  high  altar,  is  a  beautiful  relief, 
a  Piet^,  perhaps  by  Ambrogio  Volpi,  who  built  the  altar. 
But  the  chief  splendour  here  is  the  choir  stalls  with  inlaid 
figures  of  Apostles  and  Saints,  designed  by  Borgognone, 
but  executed  by  Bartolommeo  dei  Polli  in  the  end  of  the 
fifteenth  century. 

To  the  right  of  the  choir  stands  the  Lavabo,  entered  by 
a  beautiful  door  having  seven  portraits  in  relief  of 
Visconti  and  Sforza  duchesses  over  a  relief  by  Amadeo 
of  Christ  washing  His  disciples'  feet.  Within,  to  the 
left,  is  a  fresco  by  Luini,  the  Madonna  and  Child  with  a 
Carnation.  The  most  beautiful  thing  here,  however, 
is  the  fifteenth-century  glass  by  Cristoforo  de'  Mattei. 
From  the  Lavabo  one  may  reach  the  cemetery. 

Turning  now  to  the  right  transept,  we  come  upon  the 
great  monument  to  the  founder  of  the  monastery  and 
of  the  Duomo  of  Milan,  Giovanni  Galeazzo  Visconti. 
This  tomb,  all  of  Carrara  marble,  was  begun  in  1490 
from  a  design  of  Galeazzo  Pellegrino,  but  not  completed 
till  1562.  As  we  see  it,  it  is  the  work  of  many  artists, 
among  them  Galeazzo  Alessi.  There  we  see  the  un- 
scrupulous son  of  Galeazzo,  a  physical  coward  but  one 
of  the  boldest  minds  in  Italy,  stretched  upon  the  precious 
marble  under  a  rich  canopy  of  the  sixteenth  century. 
About  the  tomb  are  set  six  fine  reliefs,  in  which  we  see 
Gian  Galeazzo  receiving  the  baton  of  command  from 
his  father  ;  created  Duke  of  Milan  by  the  Emperor 
Wenceslaus ;  founding  the  Certosa ;  building  the 
Castello  of  Milan  ;  defeating  the  Imperial  troops  at 
Brescia  in  1402  ;  and  establishing  the  University  of 
10 


146  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

Pavia.  These  are  commonly  stated  to  be  the  beautiful 
work  of  Amadeo.  The  inscription,  however,  would 
seem  to  attribute  the  whole  tomb  to  Gian  Cristoforo 
Romano,  which  is  certainly  untrue ;  for  the  statues 
of  Fame  and  of  Victory  at  the  extremities  of  the 
tomb  are  certainly  the  work  of  Bernardino  da  Novi ; 
that  of  the  Madonna  and  Child  is  by  Bernardino  de' 
Brioschi. 

This  monument  is  not  a  tomb.  Gian  Galeazzo 
Visconti  died  at  Marignano  in  September  1402,  and  was 
buried  in  the  Duomo  of  Milan  with  much  pomp.  Forty 
years  later  his  body  was  removed  to  the  Certosa,  but 
when,  fifty  years  after  that,  this  monument  was  begun, 
no  one  was  able  to  recall  where  he  had  been  interred. 
He  was  completely  forgotten.  ''L'oubli  et  le  silence 
sont  la  punition." 

On  the  vault  at  the  end  of  the  transept  is  a  fresco  by 
Bramantino,  in  which  we  see  Gian  Galeazzo  and  his 
family  kneeling  before  the  Virgin.  He  is  offering  her 
a  model  of  the  church ;  Filippo  is  behind  him,  and  Gio- 
vanni and  Gabriele  Maria,  his  two  other  sons,  are  opposite. 
Fontana's  two  great  bronze  candelabra  and  the  fine 
glass  in  the  windows  complete  what  is,  I  suppose,  the 
finest  corner  of  this  church.  Close  by  is  the  Sagrestia 
Nuova,  reached  by  a  door  over  which  is  a  fresco  of  the 
Madonna  enthroned  with  saints  and  angels,  by  that 
rare  master  Montagna,  between  pictures  by  Borgognone. 
The  large  altarpiece  here  is  the  work  of  Andrea  Solario, 
and  represents  the  Assumption  of  the  Blessed  Virgin. 

Proceeding  now  into  the  aisle,  we  find  in  the  third 
chapel  perhaps  the  loveliest  picture  in  the  church, 
I  mean  Borgognone's  splendid  altarpiece  of  S.  Siro 
and  four  saints.  Another  work,  a  Crucifixion,  by  the 
same  master,  greets  us  in  the  next  chapel,  and  the  Four 
Evangelists  about  Maderno's  altarpiece  in  the  sixth 
are  also  the  work  of  this  great  Lombard. 

One  should,  if  the  guides  that  infest  the  church  will 


THE  CERTOSA  OF  PA  VIA  147 

allow  it,  return  to  the  south  transept,  and  from  it  enter 
the  Chios  tro  della  Font  ana,  the  Small  Cloister  with  its 
frescoes  by  Crespi  and  its  terra-cotta  frieze  of  children 
playing  upon  instruments  of  music.  The  doorway  into 
this  cloister  is  the  work  of  Amadeo.  It  is  a  cold  but 
lovely  place,  and  offers  us  the  best  view  we  can  get  of 
the  church.  The  refectory  is  to  be  reached  from  it,  a 
fine  room  with  a  cornice  by  Borgognone. 

From  the  Chiostro  della  Fontana,  too,  we  may  reach 
the  Great  Cloister,  surrounded  on  three  sides  by  the  cells 
of  the  monks,  empty  now,  each  consisting  of  four  rooms 
on  two  floors  and  a  tiny  garden. 

Such  is  the  great  Certosa  of  Pavia,  a  place  famous  in 
history,  and  one  of  the  most  sumptuous  buildings  in 
the  world,  now  as  dead  and  as  empty  as  the  Italian 
Government  can  make  it.  One  wonders,  as  one  is  led 
about  this  extraordinary  mausoleum,  how  anyone  can 
ever  have  prayed  there,  it  is  so  cold  and  so  proud  in 
its  immortality.  How  often  when  I  have  lingered, 
hoping  at  evening  for  a  sign  and  finding  none,  have 
I  longed  for  the  ruins  of  my  own  land,  where  a 
kinder  because  a  less  vulgar  fate  has  overtaken  all 
such  places  as  this.  For  there  comes  back  into  my 
mind  the  stillness  and  the  holiness  of  that  hillside  in 
Somerset  where  I  have  so  often  dreamed  away  the  hours 
amid  the  early  English  arches  covered  with  ivy  and 
golden  lichens  and  all  manner  of  flowers,  that  is 
Hinton  Charterhouse,  wrapped  in  a  lovely  sleep,  guard- 
ing our  past,  and  still  to  be  named  Locus  Dei. 


CHAPTER    VIII 
PAVIA 

PAVIA,  "  La  Dotta,"  the  learned,  the  City  of  the 
Hundred  Towers,  lies  on  the  northern  bank  of 
the  Ticino,  some  four  miles  to  the  south  of  the  Certosa. 
On  the  right  bank  of  the  river  lies  the  small  suburb 
of  Borgo  Ticino,  which  is  connected  with  the  city  by 
a  remarkable  covered  bridge,  built  in  1351  by  Gian 
Galeazzo  Visconti.  This  place  has  always  stood  out- 
side the  city,  or  rather  the  fortress  proper  of  Pavia, 
which,  with  its  tremendous  walls  and  towers,  for  many 
centuries  was  the  strongest  place  in  all  the  Lombard 
plain  :  Verona,  which  held  the  northern  gate,  being  its 
only  rival. 

Ticinum,  as  Pavia  was  anciently  called,  has  a  long 
and  an  illustrious  history.  It  took  its  name  from 
the  river  on  which  it  stands,  some  five  miles  above 
the  junction  of  that  stream  with  the  Po,  and  according 
to  Pliny  it  was  originally  of  Gaulish  foundation.  It 
is  almost  certainly,  indeed,  later  than  the  time  of 
Hannibal,  who  must  have  crossed  the  Ticino  in  the 
immediate  neighbourhood  of  the  present  town,  and  it 
is  highly  probable  that  the  ford  here  created  the  place, 
which  thus  even  in  its  genesis  was  a  fortress.  The 
earliest  mention  of  Ticinum  in  history  is  to  be  found 
in  Tacitus,^  who  tells  us  that  Augustus,  on  the  death  of 
Drusus,  the  father  of  Germanicus,  advanced  "  as  far 
as  Ticinum  "  to  meet  the  funeral  procession.  It  must 
indeed  about  this  time  have  become  of  some  importance, 

*  Ann.  iii.  5. 
148 


ON    THE    ROAD 


tlh    HKllJuK,    PAVIA 


PAVIA  149 

for  the  great  highroad  from  Piacenza  to  the  foot  of  the 
Alps  passed  through  it,  and  not  through  Milan,  though 
later,  when  the  latter  city  had  become  the  second  capital 
of  Italy,  it  was  customary  to  proceed  thither,  instead 
of  following  the  more  direct  way. 

But  it  was  not  till  after  the  fall  of  the  Empire  that 
Ticinum  rose  to  the  position  it  occupied  all  through 
the  Dark  Ages.  Its  fame  began  with  the  disaster  of 
452,  when  Attila  took  and  sacked  it;  but  Theodoric, 
struck  by  its  position,  rebuilt  it,  and  erected  there 
a  royal  palace,  finally  making  it  so  strong  that  it 
became  what  it  long  remained,  the  most  formidable 
citadel  in  this  part  of  Italy,  in  which  the  royal  treasure 
was  deposited.^  When  the  Lombards  broke  into 
Italy,  the  city,  which  they  called  Papia,  offered  an 
heroic  resistance  to  Alboin,  and  was  not  taken  till  it 
had  been  besieged  for  more  than  three  years.  It  was, 
however,  under  the  Lombards  that  it  reached  the 
zenith  of  its  fame,  for  it  then  became  the  capital  of  the 
kingdom  of  Italy,  a  position  which  it  held  till  774, 
when  Desiderius,  the  last  of  the  Lombard  kings,  was 
compelled  to  surrender  the  city  by  Charlemagne,  after 
a  blockade  of  fifteen  months. 

Charlemagne  appears  before  Pavia  in  answer  to  the 
call  of  Pope  Hadrian  from  beleaguered  Rome,  as  the 
saviour  of  Europe  in  one  of  the  most  tremendous 
moments  in  our  history.  All  great  things  become  as  a 
tale  that  is  told — best  of  all  in  verse — and  this  too  : — 

It  is  a  tale  of  Charlemagne, 
When  like  a  thundercloud  that  lowers 
And  sweeps  from  mountain  crest  to  coast, 
With  lightning  flaming  through  its  showers. 
He  swept  across  the  Lombard  plain, 
-"^  Beleaguering  with  his  warlike  train 

Pavia,  the  country's  pride  and  boast. 
The  City  of  the  Hundred  Towers. 


^  Cf.  Procopius,  De  Bella  Gotico,  ii.  12,  25,  iii.  i,  iv.  32. 


150  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

Charlemagne  himself,  with  a  great  part  of  that 
sleepless  army  to  which  we  owe  all  that  is  precious  to  us 
to-day,  crossed  the  Alps  by  the  Mont  Cenis,  the  rest 
of  his  troops  making  their  way  into  Lombardy  by  the 
Great  St.  Bernard.  The  army  of  Desiderius,  which 
had  intended  to  meet  him  in  the  narrow  defiles,  fled 
at  his  approach,  and  the  last  Lombard  king  shut  himself 
up  in  his  great  fortress  of  Pavia  to  await  the  coming  of 
the  Iron  King — ^with  what  presentiments  and  expecta- 
tions let  the  ballad  tell,  for  it  is  very  glorious  : — 

Olger  the  Dane  and  Desiderio, 
King  of  the  Lombards,  on  a  lofty  tower 
Stood  gazing  northward  o'er  the  rolling  plains. 
League  after  league  of  harvests,  to  the  foot 
Of  the  snow-crested  Alps,  and  saw  approach 
A  mighty  army,  thronging  all  the  roads 
That  led  into  the  city.     And  the  King 
Said  unto  Olger,  who  had  passed  his  youth 
As  hostage  at  the  Court  of  France,  and  knew 
The  Emperor's  form  and  face  :  "Is  Charlemagne 
Among  that  host  ?  "  and  Olger  answered:  "  No." 

And  still  the  innumerable  multitude 

Flowed  onward  and  increased,  until  the  King 

Cried  in  amazement  :  "  Surely  Charlemagne 

Is  coming  in  the  midst  of  all  these  knights  !  " 

And  Olger  answered  slowly  :  "  No,  not  yet ; 

He  will  not  come  so  soon."     Then,  much  disturbed, 

King  Desiderio  asked  :  "  What  shall  we  do. 

If  he  approach  with  a  still  greater  army  ?  " 

And  Olger  answered  :  "  When  he  shall  appear. 

You  will  behold  what  manner  of  man  he  is  ; 

But  what  will  then  befall  us  I  know  not." 

Then  came  the  guard  that  never  knew  repose, 
The  Paladins  of  France  ;  and  at  the  sight 
The  Lombard  king,  o'ercome  with  terror,  cried  : 
"  This  must  be  Charlemagne  !  "  and  as  before 
Did  Olger  answer  :  "  No,  not  yet,  not  yet." 

And  then  appeared,  in  panoply  complete, 
The  Bishops  and  the  Abbots  and  the  Priests 
Of  the  Imperial  Chapel  and  the  Courts  ; 


PA  VI A  151 

And  Desiderio  could  no  more  endure 

The  light  of  day,  nor  yet  encounter  death, 

But  sobbed  aloud,  and  said  :  "  Let  us  go  down 

And  hide  us  in  the  bosom  of  the  earth, 

Far  from  the  sight  and  anger  of  a  foe 

So  terrible  as  this  !  "     And  Olger  said  : 

"  When  you  behold  the  harvests  in  the  fields 

Shaking  with  fear,  the  Po  and  the  Ticino 

Lashing  the  city  walls  with  iron  waves, 

Then  may  you  know  that  Charlemagne  is  come.*' 

Now,  even  as  he  spake,  in  the  north-west, 
Lo,  there  uprose  a  black  and  threatening  cloud 
Out  of  whose  bosom  flashed  the  light  of  arms 
Upon  the  people  pent  up  in  the  city  ; 
A  light  more  terrible  than  any  darkness  ; 
And  Charlemagne  appeared  : — a  Man  of  Iron  I 

His  helmet  was  of  iron,  and  his  gloves 

Of  iron,  and  his  breastplate  and  his  greaves 

And  tassets  were  of  iron,  and  his  shield. 

In  his  left  hand  he  held  an  iron  spear. 

In  his  right  hand  his  sword  invincible. 

The  horse  he  rode  on  had  the  strength  of  iron 

And  colour  of  iron.     All  who  went  before  him, 

Beside  him,  and  behind  him,  his  whole  host. 

Were  armed  with  iron,  and  their  hearts  within  them 

Were  stronger  than  the  armour  that  they  wore. 

The  fields  and  all  the  roads  were  filled  with  iron, 

And  points  of  iron  glistened  in  the  sun 

And  shed  a  terror  through  the  city  streets. 

This  at  a  single  glance  Olger  the  Dane 
Saw  from  the  tower,  and  turning  to  the  King, 
Exclaimed  in  haste  :  "  Behold  !  this  is  the  man 
We  looked  for  with  such  eagerness  !  "  and  then 
Fell  as  one  dead  at  Desiderio's  feet. 

Thus  came  Charlemagne  into  Italy  to  deliver  Europe 
from  the  barbarian  and  to  restore  the  Empire.  He 
came  at  the  behest  of  the  Pope  Hadrian,  who  sent  him 
a  messenger  whose  name  was  Peter.  This  Peter — 
such  was  the  state  of  Italy  in  the  hands  of  the  barbarians 
— travelled  by  sea  to  Marseilles,  and  so  up  the  Rhone 


152  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

valley,  to  find  Charlemagne  on  the  Moselle  near  Metz.  The 
great  king  heard  the  Pope's  summons,  and  determined 
to  deliver  us  out  of  our  distress.  He  set  out  with  his 
invincible  armies,  crossed  the  barriers  of  the  Alps  and 
swept  down  upon  Pavia,  which  after  fifteen  months' 
siege  flung  open  her  gates  on  a  Tuesday  in  June  774. 
The  domination  of  the  Lombards  was  ended  by  that 
act. 

Charlemagne,  who  as  it  seems  never  entered  Milan, 
used  Pavia  as  the  centre  of  his  power  in  Italy.  A  royal 
residence  was  built  in  the  neighbourhood  on  the  Olona, 
and  called  Corteolona.  But  with  the  failure  of  the 
Carolingian  power  Pavia  decayed,  and  became  what  it 
ever  after  remained,  a  provincial  city.  Yet  it  was  in 
S.  Michele  Maggiore  at  Pavia  that  Berenger  of  Friuli 
and  his  successors  down  to  Adalbert  11.  were  crowned 
kings  of  Italy.  In  the  reign  of  the  first  Berenger 
Pavia  was  sacked  by  the  Hungarians,  but  in  951  it  was 
the  scene  of  the  marriage  of  Otto  i.  and  that  Adelaide 
whom  he  had  crossed  the  Alps  to  rescue  and  to  marry  ; 
and  in  this  romance  was  established  once  more  the  often 
broken  Empire.  Fifty  years  later,  however,  when  the 
succession  of  the  crown  of  Italy  was  in  dispute  between 
the  Emperor  Henry  11.  and  Arduin  of  Ivrea,  Pavia  took 
the  part  of  the  latter,  and  in  1004  was  laid  in  ruins  by 
Henry,  when  on  the  night  of  his  coronation  in  S.  Michele 
Maggiore  he  was  attacked  by  the  people.  Nevertheless, 
it  rose  from  its  ruins,  and  in  1026  was  even  ready  to  close 
its  gates  against  Conrad  the  Salic. 

The  eleventh  and  twelfth  centuries  show  us  a  growing 
jealousy  between  Pavia  and  Milan,  which  in  the 
general  amelioration  of  the  world  and  the  growing 
power  of  the  Latin  population  of  Italy  could  have  but 
one  end,  the  ruin  of  Pavia.  To  save  herself,  Pavia 
turned  to  the  Emperors,  and  indeed  remained  attached 
to  their  cause  till  the  end  of  the  fourteenth  century. 
This  availed  her  very  little,  however,  for  by  1360,  when 


PAVIA  153 

Galeazzo  Visconti  was  appointed  Imperial  Vicar  by 
Charles  iv.,  the  city  had  become  a  mere  possession  of 
the  ruling  Milanese  family,  without  life  of  its  own  or 
any  sort  of  independence.  Henceforth  Pavia  is 
merged  in  the  Duchy  of  Milan,  and  it  has  very  little 
real  importance  even  in  the  local  history  of  Lombardy 
till  we  come  to  the  year  1499,  when  it  revolted  against 
the  French  garrison.  For  this  in  the  following  year 
it  paid  the  penalty,  and  in  15 12,  after  the  French  victory 
at  Ravenna  over  the  Papal  and  Spanish  armies,  which 
cost  Gaston  de  Foix  his  life,  Pavia  was  tamed,  and  as  a 
sign  of  fidelity  presented  Louis  xii.  with  a  magnificent 
standard.  The  victory  of  Ravenna,  however,  and  the 
death  of  Gaston  de  Foix  closed  the  good  fortune  of 
the  French  in  Italy.  For  all  its  promised  fidelity  to 
the  French,  by  1525  it  had  been  fortified  so  strongly 
that  it  was  able  to  defy  Francis  i.,  who  was  utterly 
beaten  in  the  neighbourhood  on  February  24  in  that 
year,  the  king,  after  fighting  with  heroic  valour  and 
killing  seven  of  the  enemy  with  his  own  hand,  being 
taken  prisoner.  So  utterly  without  hope  did  that 
defeat  leave  the  French  that  Francis  wrote  to  his 
mother,  Louise  of  Savoy,  Regent  of  France  in  his 
absence,  that  letter  in  which  occurs  the  famous  phrase, 
"Tout  est  perdu,  fors  I'honneur."  All  was  not  lost, 
however,  for  two  years  later  Lautrec  was  able  to  avenge 
that  famous  defeat  and  to  put  Pavia  to  the  sack  during 
seven  days. 

During  the  years  of  Spanish  rule,  after  the  Duchy  of 
Milan  in  1540  was  annexed  to  the  Spanish  crown,  life 
in  Pavia  was  what  it  was  everywhere  else  in  Lombardy, 
till  in  1655  Prince  Tommaso  of  Savoy,  at  the  head  of 
a  French  army  of  20,000,  laid  siege  to  Pavia,  but  after 
fifty-two  days  raised  it  and  withdrew.  In  all  this, 
and  in  the  events  of  the  years  which  followed,  Pavia 
suffered  as  a  part  of  Lombardy  the  common  misfortune. 
It  was   continually  occupied  and  reoccupied  by  the 


154  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

Austrians  (1706),  the  French  (1733),  the  Spaniards 
(1743)  ;  the  Austrians  finally  holding  the  whole  field 
(1746-96).  In  the  May  of  1796  Napoleon  appeared 
before  the  city,  took  it  and  pillaged  it  during  three 
days.  The  hope  he  brought  of  an  Italian  kingdom 
failed,  and  in  1814  Pavia  with  the  rest  of  the  sometime 
kingdom  was  in  the  Austrian  power  again.  But  the 
apparition  of  Napoleon  had  prophesied  a  new  future, 
which  the  nineteenth  century  was  to  see  realised.  After 
the  glorious  revolution  of  1848,  which  was  crushed  with 
an  extraordinary  brutality  by  the  Austrians,  and  the 
University  closed,  in  1859  Savoy  was  in  the  field,  and 
Pavia  with  the  rest  of  Lombardy  passed,  as  we  may 
expect,  permanently  to  that  standard,  to  form  the 
strongest  and  most  formidable  part  of  that  new  State 
and  nation  we  know  as  United  Italy. 

Pavia  appears  to  us  to-day,  not  as  a  great  industrial 
capital  like  Milan,  but  as  one  of  those  old-world  pro- 
vincial cities  which  are  the  strength  and  the  glory  of 
Italy.  Her  very  famous  past  may,  largely,  be  still 
read  in  her  aspect  and  in  her  stones  and  buildings, 
and  at  least  we  may  note  there  the  various  periods 
of  her  history,  and  remember  in  the  modern  city 
all  that  has  gone  with  so  much  rumour  and  sound 
before  us. 

The  oldest  church  in  Pavia,  one  of  the  most  re- 
markable churches  in  Lombardy,  is  S.  Michele  Mag- 
giore,  which  stands  not  far  from  the  Ticino,  in  that 
part  of  the  city  that  is  farthest  from  the  railway 
station. 

All  along  the  Via  Emilia,  between  Venetia  on  the 
north  and  Tuscany  and  the  Apennines  on  the  south, 
between  the  Alps  and  the  Adriatic,  there  may  be  found 
a  whole  series  of  buildings,  certainly  of  the  North, 
belonging  to  a  style  of  architecture  which  we  call 
Lombard,  but  which  it  would  be  an  error  to  merge 
altogether  in  the  larger  title  of  Romanesque.     Perhaps 


PAVIA  155 

the  most  remarkable  of  these  buildings,  among  which 
we  may  name  Borgo  S.  Donnino,  the  monastic  church 
of  Chiaravalle  and  S.  Fedele  at  Como,^  is  the  Church 
of  S.  Michele  at  Pavia,  which  is  certainly  one  of 
the  earliest,  dating  as  it  does  from  the  last  years  of 
the  eleventh  century.  Its  true  plan  is  that  of  a  basilica 
190  feet  long  by  45  feet  wide,  but  short  transepts  have 
been  added  to  it.  The  main  building  is  of  massive 
stone,  and  is  ornamented  and  broken  without  by 
small  open  galleries  crowning  the  apse  and  the  facade. 
The  doors  are  round-arched,  decorated  with  mouldings 
and  all  sorts  of  imagery,  bands  of  which  are  carried 
across  the  fagade,  and,  as  medallions,  break  the  monotony 
of  the  walls.  The  windows,  like  the  doors,  are  round, 
and  the  whole  is  at  once  massive,  savage  and  restless, 
a  true  barbarian  work — that  is  to  say,  the  work  of  a 
barbarian  who  has  been  brought  in  contact  with  Latin 
work  and  has  been  unable  to  use  or  assimilate  it. 
Something  rude  and  uncouth  we  find  in  all  this,  of  course, 
for  that  is  the  fundamental  nature  of  it,  but  how  full 
of  energy  and  life  it  is,  too,  how  restless,  daring  and 
unhappy.  And  indeed  the  whole  building  seems  to 
express  a  sort  of  disappointment,  most  of  all  with  itself, 
as  though  its  builders  had  seen  a  vision  which  they 
could  not  recall,  or  had  heard  some  sudden  good  news 
which  they  could  not  remember.  It  is  well  to  remember 
that  the  church  is  dedicated  to  the  warrior-archangel 
S.  Michael,  and  that  everywhere  it  speaks  of  deliverance 
— deliverance  perhaps  from  the  helpless  misery  and  dis- 
orderliness  of  the  forests,  of  the  roadless  lands  hidden 
in  the  twilight  of  the  North,  that  here  on  the  sunny  side 
of  the  great  mountains  had  been  left  behind  for  ever, 
but  still  remained  as  a  kind  of  uneasy  and  ever  recurrent 
dream.  The  souls  of  the  men  who  built  these  churches 
were    haunted    by    an    unconscious    recollection    of 

^  We  shall  come  upon  others  in  S.  Maria  Maggiore  at  Bergamo, 
the  Duomos  of  Cremona,  Piacenza,  Modena  and  Parma. 


156  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

barbarism,  from  which  suddenly  and  by  a  kind  of 
miracle  their  fathers  and  they  themselves  had  been 
delivered.  So  over  the  main  portal  of  the  church 
they  built  to  S.  Michel  e  they  carved  the  great  archangel 
and  deliverer  battling  with  the  Devil ;  over  the  south 
door  they  carved  S.  George  victorious  over  the  Dragon  ; 
over  the  north  door  Jonah  saved  from  all  the  restless 
desert  of  the  sea  by  the  whale,  which  might,  for  us  at 
least,  well  stand  here  for  Latin  civilisation,  which  was 
to  preserve  the  barbarian  really  by  swallowing  him 
whole  and  altogether. 

This  haunting  dread,  and  an  overwhelming  sense  of 
deliverance  from  it,  are  expressed  not  only  in  these 
carvings  over  the  doors,  but  everywhere  in  S.  Michele. 
The  belts  of  carving  along  the  walls,  the  medallions, 
and  the  figures  on  the  jambs  of  the  arches  represent 
dragons,  griffins,  sphinxes,  centaurs,  snakes  and 
eagles,  a  whole  menagerie  of  doubtful  creatures  from 
whose  ^power  here  in  Italy  one  had  escaped,  that 
Christianity  certainly  had  once  and  for  all  disposed  of. 
It  is  the  same  within  the  church,  and  indeed  here  in 
S.  Michele  Christianity  appears  in  the  eleventh  century 
as  it  appeared  to  the  men  of  the  primitive  Church, 
as  a  refuge  from  a  whole  world  of  danger,  disorder 
and  ennui,  as  a  refuge  most  of  all,  perhaps,  from  oneself ; 
a  philosophy,  a  faith,  a  revelation  upon  acquiring  or 
receiving  which  depended  the  safety  of  the  whole 
world  and  of  one's  own  soul.  It  is  possible  here  in  this 
strange  and  lonely  church  to  understand  that  ultimately 
there  is  no  such  thing  as  Europe,  that  there  is  only 
Christendom,  since  it  is  upon  what  is  in  the  mind 
and  the  soul  the  present  and  the  future  of  man 
depend. 

Within,  the  church,  restored  in  the  middle  of  the  last 
century,  is  supported  by  eight  pillars,  from  which  rise 
double  round  arches  along  the  nave,  while  the  crossing 
is  covered  by  an  octagonal   dome.     Here  the  crypt 


PAVIA  157 

under  the  choir  is  probably  older  than  the  church  as  we 
see  it,  and  may  well  date  from  the  seventh  century 
or  earlier. 

To  pass  from  S.  Michele  to  the  Duomo  in  the  midst 
of  the  city  is  to  pass  from  the  greatness  of  Pavia  to  its 
provincial  splendour  under  the  Visconti  and  the  Sforza. 
The  Duomo  was  begun  by  Galeazzo  Maria  Sforza  in  1488, 
and  was  still  unfinished  when  Ludovico  il  Moro  went 
into  captivity,  as  it  remains  to-day.  It  is  not  a  pleasing 
building,  and  if  we  may  judge  by  the  modern  model 
within  the  sacristy,  had  it  been  finished  we  should  have 
liked  it  less  even  than  we  do.  The  beautiful  old  doorway 
between  the  campanile  and  the  main  building  is  the  only 
relic  of  an  earlier  building  that  stood  here  or  ever 
the  Sforza  came,  under  the  old  invocation  of  S.  Siro, 
whose  body  lies  in  the  crypt  in  a  marble  tomb  enclosed 
in  a  splendid  shrine. 

From  the  Cathedral  one  proceeds  up  the  Corso  to 
the  Piazza  d'  Italia  and  the  University,  which  it  is  said 
Charlemagne  founded  in  774.  However  that  may  be, 
the  University  of  Pavia  owes  almost  everything  to  Gian 
Galeazzo  Visconti,  who  endowed  it  with  many  privileges 
in  1390  and  is  regarded  as  its  founder.  Nevertheless, 
Pavia  was  able  to  boast  of  learning  and  philosophy  before 
the  Visconti  were  thought  of.  Is  not  Boethius  her  son, 
and  did  he  not  write  here  in  his  captivity  the  De  Con- 
solatione  Philosophiae  that  our  King  Alfred  loved  ? 
And  was  not  Lanfranc,  Norman  William's  Archbishop 
of  Canterbury,  born  here,  and  did  he  not  make  the  legal 
and  philosophical  school  of  Pavia  famous  through  all 
Europe  ?  To  Giovanni  Visconti  we  owe,  however,  the 
presence  here  of  Petrarch,  who  was  so  often  his  guest ; 
and  the  Visconti  foundation  can  at  least  boast  of  a  name 
famous  through  the  world,  for  in  1447  Christopher 
Columbus  was  at  the  University  here. 

For  all  this  fame,  there  is  little  to  be  seen  of  the  old 
buildings  of  the  University :  it  all  seems  to  be  of  the 


158  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

eighteenth  century  and  to  be  due  to  Maria  Theresa  or  the 
Emperor  Joseph.  More  interesting  is  the  church  behind 
the  University,  dedicated  to  S.  Maria  di  Canepanova, 
begun  in  1492  by  Galeazzo  Maria  Visconti  in  the  style 
of  Bramante,  that  true  Italian  way  of  building  with 
space  and  light  and  harmony.  On  the  western  side  of 
the  University,  and  about  as  far  from  it  as  S.  Maria  di 
Canepanova,  is  the  Church  of  S.  Maria  del  Carmine,  or 
as  some  have  it,  S.  Pantaleone,  a  beautiful  Gothic  building 
of  brick,  unlike  anything  else  I  know  in  all  Lombardy, 
and  with  a  very  lovely  campanile. 

From  this  delicate  and  un- Italian  thing,  like  a  strange 
wild  flower,  unexpected  and  beautiful,  we  turn  back  into 
the  Corso,  and  pursuing  our  way  come  at  last  to  the 
gloomy  Castello  on  the  verge  of  the  city.  This  horrid 
place  is  said  to  stand  upon  the  site  of  the  palace  of  the 
Lombard  kings  :  it  is  itself,  however,  a  building  of  1460, 
and  it  has  faced  all  the  French,  Spanish  and  Austrian 
invasions  till  1796,  when  the  French  to  make  it  more 
impregnable  removed  the  roof  and  covered  it  with  earth, 
and  finally  left  it  the  ruinous  thing  we  see.  It  is  now 
an  artillery  barracks  and  well  worth  seeing,  gloomy  and 
dilapidated  though  it  be. 

The  great  treasure  of  Pavia,  however,  is  to  be  found 
in  that  church  close  to  the  Castello  which  is  called 
S.  Pietro  in  Ciel  d'  Oro,  which  with  its  magnificent  west 
front  and  polygonal  tower  is  itself  a  wonder,  but  is 
altogether  glorious  because  it  is  the  casquet — as  far  as 
the  body  of  the  church  goes  a  poor  one — of  one  of  the 
five  great  shrines  of  Italy — that  of  S.  Augustine — 
comparable  in  splendour  with  those  of  S.  Peter 
Martyr  in  S.  Eustorgio  at  Milan,  of  S.  Domenico  at 
Bologna,  of  S.  Donato  at  Arezzo,  and  of  Our  Lady  in  Or 
S.  Michele  at  Florence. 

The  body  of  S.  Augustine,  with  the  fall  of  the  Roman 
Empire,  was  brought  in  430  from  Hippo  in  the  province 
of  Africa,  then  in  the  hands  of  the  Vandals,  to  Cagliari  in 


PAVIA  159 

Sardinia  by  the  Catholic  clergy  whom  King  Thrasmund 
the  Vandal  and  Arian  had  banished.  Originally 
the  body  had  been  buried  in  the  Church  of  S.  Stefano 
at  Hippo ;  it  was  reinterred  in  the  Church  of  S.  Saturnio 
in  Cagliari,  where  for  more  than  two  centuries  it  remained, 
till  indeed  Sardinia  was  overrun  by  the  Saracens  and 
it  was  found  impossible  to  protect  the  pilgrims  to  the 
shrine.  Then  the  great  Liutprand,  King  of  the  Lombards, 
bought  the  body  of  the  infidel  for  60,000  golden  crowns, 
and  in  710  had  it  borne  to  his  Church  of  S.  Pietro  in 
Ciel  d'  Oro  in  Pavia,  where  he  placed  it  in  the  custody 
of  the  Benedictines,  who  then  held  the  church  and 
monastery,  and  when  he  came  to  die  he  looked  for 
nothing  better  than  to  be  buried  at  the  feet  of  the  great 
Doctor  and  Saint,  and  so  it  was. 

In  1220  the  church  passed  from  the  Benedictines  to 
the  Canons  Regular  of  S.  Augustine,  and  a  hundred 
years  later,  in  1327,  the  place  was  given  into  the  part 
keeping  of  the  Canons  of  the  Eremitani  di  S.  Agos- 
tino.  In  1350  the  latter,  it  is  said,  began  the  work  of 
erecting  a  great  shrine  to  hold  the  body  of  the  Saint, 
probably  in  competition  or  imitation  of  the  Dominicans, 
who  by  the  hands  of  Balduccio  had  just  built  the 
marvellous  shrine  of  S.  Peter  Martjn:  in  S.  Eustorgio 
of  Milan. 

The  work  at  Pavia,  it  now  appears  certain,  was  given 
to  one  or  more  of  those  pupils  of  Balduccio  who  were 
numerous  in  Lombardy,  probably  to  Matteo  and  Bonnino 
di  Campione.  It  is  probable  that  Gian  Galeazzo, 
uneasy  about  the  murder  he  contemplated,  both  before 
and  after  its  accomplishment,  supplied  the  Eremitani 
with  a  large  part  of  the  necessary  money  ;  other  sums, 
as  we  know,  came  from  the  faithful  and  pilgrims,  and 
indeed  we  hear  in  the  course  of  a  dispute,  finally  settled 
by  the  Holy  See,  of  a  sum  of  4000  gold  crowns  being 
given  by  one  person. 

With  the  decay  of  religion  and  the  horrors  of  the  wars 


i6o  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

the  shrine  seems  to  have  fallen  into  decay,  the  church 
became  a  military  hospital,  and  it  was  at  length  proposed 
to  transfer  the  tomb  to  the  Cathedral.  Nothing  was 
done,  however,  till  towards  the  end  of  the  eighteenth 
century  the  shrine  was  taken  down  and  carried  off  to 
the  Church  of  the  Gesu,  whither  the  Eremitani  had 
been  transferred.  Then,  in  1799,  the  Eremitani  were 
suppressed  altogether,  the  Church  of  S.  Pietro,  save 
the  tower  and  fa9ade,  was  demolished,  and  in  the  out- 
cry which  followed  the  shrine  was  remembered,  dfawn 
out  of  its  obscurity  at  the  Gesu  and  re-erected  in  the 
Cathedral.  In  1902,  however,  the  Church  of  S.  Pietro 
having  been  rebuilt,  the  shrine  was  replaced  as  we  now 
see  it. 

In  appearance  the  shrine  is  a  vast  oblong  tomb 
covered  by  a  canopy  borne  by  square  piers.  The  whole 
is  of  marble,  and  in  every  part  is  elaborately  carved  and 
niched  and  set  about  with  statues  and  reliefs.  On  the 
top  of  the  tomb,  beneath  the  gabled  canopy,  the  marble 
efftgy  of  the  Saint  lies  in  a  linen  pall  upheld  by  angels. 
The  whole  is  perhaps  a  triile  heavy  and  compares  badly 
with  Balduccio's  work  in  S.  Eustorgio,  but  it  is  in  itself 
a  marvellous  and  precious  monument,  an  everlasting 
witness  to  the  nobility  of  the  age  which  produced, 
and  to  the  men  who  desired  and  loved  such  a  work  as 
this. 

It  is  easy  to  measure  the  enormous  abyss  which 
separates  our  time  from  theirs,  and  us  from  them, 
when  we  realise  that  nowhere  in  the  world  could  such 
a  work  as  this  be  carried  out  to-day  ;  but  then  we 
no  longer  hold  the  Christian  philosophy  and  have  so 
far  ceased  to  be  European.  It  is  little  wonder,  then, 
that  when  we  would  build  a  monument  we  erect  such  a 
vulgarity  as  the  Victoria  Memorial,  or  such  a  heavy 
ineptitude  as  the  Admiralty  Arch  at  Charing  Cross, 
and  this  though  no  saint  that  has  ever  existed  is  capable 
of  exciting  in  us  the  love  and  reverence  we  had  for 


PAVIA  i6i 

Queen  Victoria.  Nor  are  we  alone  in  this  :  industrialism 
has  set  its  loathsome  seal  upon  all  our  hearts,  that 
without  love  or  speech  or  sight  or  hearing  we  may  pass 
gloomily  through  a  gloomy  and  unhappy  world  without 
hope  and  without  beauty. 


II 


CHAPTER    IX 
MONZA 

SOME  ten  miles  to  the  north  of  Milan,  still  in  the 
plain  but  within  sight  of  the  hills,  stands  Monza, 
which  in  its  memories,  its  beautiful  relics,  its  thirteenth- 
century  Broletto,  recalls  for  us  the  earlier  Lombardy, 
for  it  was  here  from  the  eleventh  century,  in  the  first 
city  within  the  Italian  border,  that  the  emperors-elect 
were  crowned  kings  with  the  "  iron  crown  of  Lombardy," 
still  holy  and  still  preserved  over  the  high  altar  of  the 
Duomo,  before  they  set  out  on  that  long  march  to 
Rome,  there  to  receive  the  Imperial  title  and  consecra- 
tion from  the  hands  of  the  Pope. 

But  Monza,  Imperial  as  she  is,  as  might  be  expected, 
is  far  older  than  the  eleventh  century.  She  seems 
first  to  have  become  important  in  the  time  of  Theodoric 
the  Goth,  who  is  said  to  have  built  a  palace  here, 
perhaps  a  summer  residence  ;  but  her  real  and  great 
fame  dates  from  the  sixth  century,  when  that  romantic 
Queen  with  the  beautiful  name,  Theodolinda,  made 
the  place  her  residence  and  her  capital. 

Autharis,  King  of  the  Lombards,  an  Arian  and  perhaps 
a  pagan,  had  already  when  we  find  him  king  asked 
for  and  obtained  the  promise  of  the  hand  of  Chlodosinda, 
daughter  of  Brunichildis,  sister  of  Childebert,  King  of 
Austrasia.  But  when  news  reached  Gaul  of  the  con- 
version of  Recared  of  Spain  to  the  Catholic  Faith, 
Brunichildis,  who  was  herself  a  convert  from  Arianism 
and  a  fervent  Catholic,  broke  off  her  daughter's  engage- 
ment  to   Autharis    and    betrothed    her    to    Recared. 

162 


MONZA  163 

Thereupon  the  King  of  the  Lombards  turned  his  thoughts 
to  a  nearer  neighbour,  and  determined  to  woo  Theo- 
dolinda,  daughter  of  Garibald,  Duke  of  the  Bavarians, 
of  whose  beauty  he  had  heard  many  rumours,  for  she 
was  very  fair  and  slender. 

Taking,  therefore,  a  few  of  his  followers,  he  set  out 
for  the  Bavarian  Court  in  disguise,  determined  to  be 
his  own  ambassador.  To  an  old  and  trusted  courtier 
was  given  the  apparent  leadership  and  the  opening 
speech  of  greeting,  and  then  Autharis  himself,  incognito, 
came  forward  and  said  :  "  My  master  Autharis  has 
sent  me  that  I  may  behold  the  face  of  his  betrothed, 
our  future  mistress  and  Queen,  and  may  make  report 
of  her  beauty  to  my  lord." 

Garibald  then  brought  forward  his  daughter,  and  as 
Autharis  gazed  in  silence  on  the  beauty  of  Theodolinda 
he  found  himself  in  love.  Thereafter  he  said  to  the 
Duke :  "In  truth  we  see  that  your  daughter  is  well 
worthy  to  be  our  Queen.  Command  therefore,  I  pray, 
that  we  may  receive  from  her  hands  a  goblet  of  wine,  as 
we  hope  often  to  do  in  years  to  come."  And  Theo- 
dolinda brought  the  goblet  and  offered  it  first  to  the 
old  man  as  chief ;  then  she  offered  it  to  Autharis,  all 
unwitting  that  he  was  her  future  husband.  And  he  in 
returning  the  cup  secretly  intertwined  his  fingers  with 
hers,  and  bending  low  to  drink,  guided  them  over  his 
face  from  forehead  to  chin  as  it  were  a  caress. 

When  the  embassy  was  gone,  Theodolinda,  not  without 
shame,  told  her  nurse  of  the  strange  behaviour  of  the 
Lombard.  But  the  old  dame  in  her  cunning  perceived 
the  truth,  and  said  :  "  Assuredly  this  must  be  the  King 
thy  suitor,  for  only  he  would  dare  to  do  so  to  thee. 
But  let  us  not  speak  of  this,  lest  thy  father  hear  of  it 
and  be  angry.  In  truth  this  Lombard  is  a  comely 
person,  worthy  of  the  kingdom  and  of  thee." 

She  was  right.  The  ambassadors  were  dismissed  : 
no  sooner  did  they  reach  the  confines  of  Italy  than 


l64  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

Autharis,  raising  himself  on  his  horse,  darted  his  battle- 
axe  against  a  tree  with  incomparable  dexterity.  **  Such," 
said  he  to  the  astonished  Bavarians,  "  such  are  the 
sti:okes  of  the  King  of  the  Lombards." 

Not  long  after,  Bavaria  was  invaded  from  Gaul,  and 
Theodolinda  fled  to  Italy  to  her  lover.  They  were 
married  in  the  palace  at  Parma.  But  their  happiness 
was  destined  to  be  brief.  At  the  end  of  a  year  Autharis 
died,  and  Theodolinda,  who  had  endeared  herself  to  the 
Lombards,  became  their  Queen,  able  to  bestow  with  her 
hand  the  sceptre  of  the  Italian  kingdom.  She  married 
Agilulf,  and  made  Monza  her  home.  There  she  built  a 
splendid  palace,  where  after  seven  years  of  married  life 
she  gave  birth  to  a  son,  Adaluald,  who  was  baptized 
into  the  Catholic  Faith.  For  indeed  the  great  and 
noble  work  of  Theodolinda  was  the  conversion  of  the 
Lombard  barbarians,  lost  in  paganism  or  the  Arian 
heresy,  to  Christianity;  and  in  this  she  was  the 
protegee  of  Gregory  the  Great,  who  loved  her,  for  she 
was  indeed  the  main  agent  in  that  great  change  which 
at  last  brought  the  Lombard  nation  into  line  with  the 
other  Teutonic  monarchies  of  Europe.  She  died  soon 
after  the  murder  of  her  son  in  628. 

The  palace  of  Theodolinda,  like  the  palace  of  Theodoric, 
stands  no  more  in  Monza;  even  its  ruins  have  been 
destroyed.  But  she  founded  there  something  more 
enduring  than  a  royal  pleasaunce,  that  in  some  sort 
remains  to  us  to  this  day,  the  great  Church  of  S.  John 
the  Baptist,  which  she  built  in  590,  and  which  was 
replaced  by  a  Romanesque  church  in  the  twelfth 
century,  and  was  again  rebuilt  in  the  fourteenth  by 
Matteo  da  Campione. 

Monzia  terra  bona  civili  digna  corona  : 
Monzia  cunctorum  dives  et  plena  bonorum  : 
Monzia  dat  drapos  cunctis  mercantibus  aptos : 
Monzia  stat  damnis  precibus  defensa  Johannis. 

So  sings,  in  his  uncouth  way,  Buonincontro  Morigia. 


MONZA  165 

Standing  on  both  banks  of  the  Lambro,  with  its  suburbs 
of  Brugherio,  S.  Ambrogio  and  La  Santa,  Monza  is  a 
fair  city.  If  the  ancients  knew  her  not,  for  she  is  a  city 
of  the  Fall,  to  the  men  of  the  Middle  Age  she  was  as 
famous  as  any  town  in  Italy,  and  the  great  church 
which  Theodolinda,  the  Apostle  of  the  Lombards,  built 
beside  her  own  palace  remained  through  all  its  re- 
buildings  the  one  true  coronation  church  that  has  ever 
been  erected  south  of  the  Alps. 

It  is  impossible  here  to  tell  all  over  again  the  history 
of  Italy,  or  even  of  the  Lombard  kings  who  reigned  in 
Monza  until  Desiderius  was  broken  by  Charlemagne, 
who  is  said  to  have  come  hither  to  Monza  to  receive  the 
Iron  Crown  amid  the  most  splendid  ceremonies.  What 
remains  to  us  in  Monza  of  that  time  is  to  be  found  in 
the  great  church. 

This,  as  I  have  said,  is  as  we  see  it  mainly  a  building 
of  the  fourteenth  century  by  Matteo  da  Campione, 
yet  even  so  it  has  been  sadly  spoiled  in  modern  times. 
The  fagade,  which  has  been  very  largely  restored  in  our 
own  day,  as  Matteo  da  Campione  built  it  was  the 
model  for  the  fagade  of  the  Duomo  of  Milan.  Over  the 
main  portal,  upheld  by  serpentine  columns  resting  upon 
lions  and  surmounted  by  a  gilt  figure  of  S.  John 
Baptist,  is  a  very  curious  relief  from  the  earliest  church, 
representing  the  Baptism  of  Christ,  for  the  church  is 
dedicated  to  S.  John  Baptist.  There  we  see  the  Holy 
Spirit  in  the  likeness  of  a  dove,  holding  a  vase  in  its 
mouth  from  which  water  falls  upon  the  head  of  Our 
Lord  ;  an  angel  holds  His  garments,  and  near  by  stand 
the  Blessed  Virgin,  S.  John,  S.  Peter  and  S.  Paul. 
Above,  we  see  Theodolinda  herself  offering  a  jewelled 
crown  to  S.  John  Baptist,  and  with  her  her  family: 
her  husband  Agilulf,  her  son  Adaluald  and  her  daughter 
Gundiberg.  Adaluald  holds  in  his  hand  a  dove,  a  symbol 
perhaps  of  his  purity  and  youth.  This  is  all  that  remains 
without  of  the  time  of  Theodolinda.    The  brick  cam- 


i66  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

panile  is  of  the  sixteenth  century,  and  the  ineffective 
fa9ade  is  largely  work  of  the  restoration. 

Within,  the  church  is  spoilt  by  paint  and  restoration. 
In  the  right  transept  is  a  relief  of  the  time  of  Otho  ill., 
representing  the  coronation  perhaps  of  that  Emperor, 
with  the  six  Electors  and  the  Count  of  Saxony  holding 
the  sword  of  Charlemagne.  Upon  the  altar  are  the 
treasures  of  Queen  Theodolinda. 

In  the  chapel  to  the  left  of  the  choir  in  a  large 
monstrance  in  the  shape  of  a  cross  is  preserved  the  holy 
and  famous  Iron  Crown  of  Lombardy,  which  it  is  said 
Gregory  the  Great  gave  to  Theodolinda.  It  consists  of 
an  inner  circlet  of  iron  beaten  out  of  one  of  the  nails  of 
the  Cross :  this  precious  relic  is  encased  in  a  circle  of 
gold  and  jewels.  It  is  one  of  the  most  sacred  and  priceless 
treasures — even  from  a  merely  historical  point  of  view 
— to  be  found  in  Italy,  for  it  has  circled  the  brows  of 
Theodolinda,  of  Charlemagne,  of  Frederick  Barbarossa,^ 
of  Charles  v.  and  of  Napoleon  i.  In  itself  it  seems  to 
bind  Europe  indissolubly  into  one ;  and  if  ever  the 
Empire  be  re-erected  it  is  with  this  majestic  and  holy 
symbol  we  shall  crown  our  Emperor.  Not  with  it  has 
the  modern  Italian  kingdom  been  consecrated,  a  newer 
and  a  more  brittle  ring  of  gold  suffices  it.  This  symbol 
of  iron,  as  old  and  as  indestructible  as  Europe,  awaits, 
let  us  believe  it,  him  who  shall  make  us  one. 

And  here  in  this  holy  place  under  the  crown  lies  she 
who  brought  light  and  strength  to  her  kingdom,  the 

1  So  say  the  historians,  but  Cantu  points  out  that  Guntherus 
sings,  in  the  8th  Book  of  the  Ligurinus  : 

"  Turn  demum  victus  Federicus  ab  urbe  recessit, 
Medio  cumque  potens,  prisco  dignatus  honore 
lUustrare  locum,  sacro  diademate  crines 
Induit  et  dextra  gestavit  sceptra  potenti :  " 
which  means  that  he  showed  himself  there  in  the  crown.     In 
the  five  days  that  Frederick  spent  at  Monza  were  consumed  a 
thousand  wagons  of  wood  for  his  kitchen,  and  a  hundred  Imperial 
lire. 


MONZA  167 

Apostle  of  the  Lombards,  Queen  Theodolinda,  the  friend 
of  Gregory.  Her  tomb,  a  sarcophagus  resting  upon 
four  pillars  of  marble,  is  a  work  of  the  fourteenth 
century,  and  the  four  frescoes  of  scenes  from  her  life 
are  of  the  fifteenth,  restored  in  our  own  day.  More 
interesting  are  her  gifts  to  the  church — the  few  that 
remain — in  the  treasury :  a  hen  with  seven  chickens 
of  silver-gilt,  her  crown  and  comb  of  gold  filigree  and  fan 
of  painted  leather,  and  best  of  all,  the  "  precious  Gospel 
book"  and  cross  which  Gregory  gave  her  when  her  son 
was  baptized :  it  was  his  last  gift  before  his  death. 

Nothing  else  of  any  interest  remains  in  the  church, 
save  the  Sacramentary  of  Berengarius,  who  resided  here 
in  903  and  generously  endowed  the  basilica,  and  the 
pastoral  cross  used  by  the  emperors-elect  at  their 
coronation. 

In  1045  Archbishop  Aribert,  fleeing  from  Milan,  took 
refuge  in  Monza,  and  almost  caused  the  destruction  of 
the  city.  In  1158,  however,  Monza  was  restored  by 
Barbarossa.  In  the  wars  between  Frederick  and  the 
Milanese,  Monza  at  first,  and  naturally,  sided  with 
the  Emperor,  who  enriched  her  church,  surrounded  the 
borgo  with  walls  and  founded  a  palace  here.  After 
the  Peace  of  Constance,  by  the  Treaty  of  Modena,  in 
February  11 85,  Monza  was  ceded  to  the  Milanese. 
Then,  in  1218,  Frederick  11.  forced  the  archpriest  of 
the  basilica  to  crown  him  with  the  Iron  Crown.  Nor  is 
Frederick  11.  the  only  famous  bandit  who  has  forced  his 
way  into  Monza.  In  1259  Ezzelino  da  Romano, 
crossing  the  Adda,  laid  siege  to  Monza;  but  Martino 
della  Torre  of  Milan  relieved  and  saved  it.  In  1274, 
however,  the  Torriani  seized  the  treasure  of  the  basilica 
and  used  it  to  pay  for  their  wars.  It  was,  however, 
recovered  in  1319,  when  Matteo  Visconti  gave  it  into  the 
personal  keeping  of  the  Canons.  In  1311  Henry  vii. 
had  freed  Monza  from  the  Milanese  for  a  payment  of 
5000  florins  of  gold  made  by   the    inhabitants.     He 


i68  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

remained  some  days  in  the  city,  and  not  finding  the 
Iron  Crown,  which,  as  we  have  seen,  had  been  stolen 
by  the  Torriani,  ordered  one  like  it,  with  which  he  was 
crowned  in  S.  Ambrogio  of  Milan. 

After  1312  Monza  followed  the  fate  and  the  fortunes 
of  Milan. 

Little  beside  the  Basilica  of  S.  John  Baptist  remains 
worth  seeing  in  Monza.  The  picturesque  Broletto 
brings  back  to  us  the  turbulence  of  the  thirteenth  cen- 
tury, and  the  fa9ade  of  S.  Maria  in  Strada  the  work  of 
the  fourteenth.  The  Palazzo  Reale,  beyond  the  town, 
has  nothing  at  all  to  attract  us. 


CHAPTER    X 
BERGAMO 

THERE  is  a  corner  of  Italy — ^let  us  confess  it,  it  is 
only  a  corner — where  that  accursed  disease  of 
Industrialism,  the  cancer  that  is  eating  away  our  virility, 
has  unfortunately  taken  root :  that  corner  I  seemed  to 
leave  behind  me  at  Monza.  At  least,  I  know  I  was 
altogether  in  another  country  when  one  autumn  evening 
I  came  to  the  beautiful  city  of  Bergamo,  on  the  hills, 
over  against  the  mountains,  upon  which  the  snow  was 
lying  far  away,  very  pure  and  white ;  against  which,  in 
her  girdle  of  ancient  walls,  the  city  stood  up  lofty  and 
splendid,  her  towers  all  shining  in  the  setting  sun. 

Bergamo,  as  we  know  it,  consists  of  two  separate  parts 
which  might  seem  to  have  nothing  really  in  common  : 
there  is  the  Citt^  Bassa,  anciently  the  Borgo,  in  the 
illimitable  plain  at  the  foot  of  the  hills,  an  almost  com- 
pletely modern  town^  and  quite  separate  from  it  the 
true  Bergamo,  the  old  Etruscan,  Gaulish,  Roman  and 
Italian  city,  on  the  hill-top,  the  Citta  Alta,  as  beautiful 
a  place  as  is  to  be  found  in  all  Lombardy,  and  almost 
completely  of  the  Middle  Age  and  the  Renaissance. 

In  the  Citt^  Bassa  there  are  a  few  churches  which 
either  for  their  own  sakes  or  for  what  they  contain  are  of 
interest  to  us.  Such  are  S.  Alessandro  in  Colonna,  which 
is  dedicated  to  the  patron  of  Bergamo,  and  contains 
a  fine  picture  of  the  Assumption  by  Romanino ; 
S.  Bartolommeo,  which  contains  a  great  altarpiece  by 

Lorenzo  Lotto  and  some  fine  choir  stalls  of  the  sixteenth 

169 


170  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

century ;  S.  Spirito,  a  church  of  the  Early  Renaissance, 
which  contains  a  large  and  beautiful  altarpiece  by 
Borgognone,  and  a  Madonna  with  Saints  and  Angels  by 
Lotto ;  S.  Bernardino  in  Pignolo,  with  another  altarpiece 
by  Lotto ;  S.  Alessandro  della  Croce,  with  a  Madonna  by 
Moroni,  and  in  the  sacristy  a  portrait  by  the  same  master 
and  a  picture  of  the  Trinity  by  Lotto.  Apart  from  these 
churches,  the  Citta  Bassa  has  little  interest,  and  is  indeed 
a  rather  miserable  place,  a  little  infected  by  the  modern 
disease  of  which  I  have  spoken. 

It  is  far  different  with  the  Citta  Alta.  There  every- 
thing is  old  and  beautiful,  full  of  honour,  virility  and  en- 
durance. Unsuited  to  the  modern  restlessness  and  hurry, 
unapproachable  by  the  railway,  the  true  Bergamo  still 
dreams  on  her  fair  hill-top  of  all  we  in  our  foolishness 
have  forgotten,  and,  deserted  by  the  Gadarene  herd,  who 
long  since  have  rushed  down  her  steep  hillside  into  the 
mire  of  the  plain,  she  still  keeps  her  dreams  about  her, 
content  to  await  every  even  the  curfew  from  the  Torre 
Comunale,  and  to  ask  for  the  protection  of  her  two 
patrons,  S.  Alessandro  and  the  Blessed  Virgin,  at  sunset. 

I  have  said  enough  to  tell  the  traveller  that  something 
unique  and  lovely  awaits  him  in  Bergamc,  but  no  amount 
of  description  can  hope  to  convince  him  of  the  virile 
beauty  of  the  place,  the  magical  beauty  of  the  Piazza 
Maggiore  to  which  all  those  steep,  narrow,  winding  ways 
lined  with  great  palaces  seem  to  lead,  the  picturesque 
and  virile  beauty  of  the  grand  old  tower  that  rises 
over  it,  the  charm  of  the  Broletto  built  upon  arches,  as 
at  Como,  through  which  one  has  glimpses  of  the  splendour 
beyond.  Here  in  Bergamo  there  is  nothing  frowning, 
miserable  or  unhappy ;  she  is  gay  and  yet  stately,  bright, 
noble  and  sure  of  herself.  There  is  nothing  in  all 
Lombardy  better  and  lovelier  than  she. 

Her  history  is  a  tale  that  is  told.  Known  to  the 
Romans  as  Bergomum  and  held  strongly  by  the  Lom- 
bards in  the  Dark  Age,  from  1264  to  1428,  she  came  into 


J       "         » 


BERGAMO  171 

the  power  of  Milan,  and  then,  after  falling  to  a  condottiere, 
Pandolfo  Malatesta,  the  father  of  Sigismondo,  she  gave 
herself  to  Venice,  and  remained  Venetian  till  1797. 
It  is  not,  however,  of  history  one  thinks  in  Bergamo, 
but  of  beauty  and  of  art. 

Through  the  mud  and  squalor  of  the  Citt^  Bassa, 
one  is  borne  nowadays  in  a  few  moments  from  the 
station  to  the  Citta  Alta  in  an  electric  tram  and  a 
funicular  railway.  A  better  way,  for  those  who  have 
leisure  to  indulge  it,  is  perhaps  to  take  the  road  through 
the  wide  and  unordered  Foro  di  S.  Alessandro,  where  every 
year  in  August  a  great  fair  that  lasts  a  month  has  been 
held  now  for  a  thousand  years,  and  following  the  Via 
Nuova,  to  enter  the  true  Bergamo  by  the  Porta  di 
S.  Agostino,  whence  we  may  see  so  far  across  the  plain, 
even  to  the  towers  of  Milan  and  Monza,  the  passes  of  the 
great  Alps,  Monte  Rosa  and  the  pyramid  of  Monte  Viso, 
and  southward  the  Apennines  across  the  great  river,  with 
Crema  close  by  and  Cremona  not  far  away.  Nothing 
can  make  up,  I  think,  for  the  loss  of  this  view,  which  in 
itself  explains  so  much  of  the  nature  of  this  country,  so 
difficult  to  traverse  for  all  its  flatness.  It  is  one  of  the 
unexpected  gifts  Bergamo  has  in  keeping  for  us,  but  the 
best  of  these  is  herself. 

She  gives  you  herself  utterly  at  that  moment  when, 
emerging  from  the  narrow  ways  between  the  taU,  rugged 
houses,  you  come  into  the  Piazza  Maggiore,  paved  with 
brick,  with  a  ruined  fountain  in  the  midst,  and  on  one 
side  the  stateliness  and  beauty  of  the  Broletto  on  its 
arcade  of  columns,  on  the  other  the  Palazzo  della 
Ragione,  which  Scamozzi  left  unfinished.  Through  the 
arches  of  the  Broletto  you  catch  glimpses  of  the  magni- 
ficent portal  of  S.  Maria  Maggiore  and  the  fagade  of  the 
Cappella  Colleoni ;  but  it  is  never  by  this  way  I  prefer 
to  approach  these  wonders,  but  by  a  devious  way 
from  the  east  past  the  Palazzo  delF  Ateneo,  with  its 
early  Renaissance  fagade  and  flights  of  steps,  so  that 


172  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

what  I  see  first  may  be  the  apse  of  S.  Maria,  with  its 
lovely  semicircular  open  arcade,  its  flight  after  flight 
of  roof  and  gallery  and  tower  up  to  the  pointed  steeple 
which  crowns  the  whole. 

But  however  you  come  to  S.  Maria  Maggiore,  you  will 
be  enchanted.  Coming  to  it  from  the  Piazza  under  the 
arches  of  the  Broletto,  you  will  have  before  you  the 
noble  porch  of  the  church  and  the  superb  fagade  of 
the  Cappella  Colleoni  on  your  right,  the  Baptistery  which 
Giovanni  da  Campiglione  built  "  in  imitation  of  the 
antique  "  in  1340,  and  on  your  left  the  Duomo  with  its 
fine  cupola  built  by  Scamozzi  in  1614.  But  the  noblest 
church  in  Bergamo  is  that  of  S.  Maria  Maggiore,  the 
better  and  more  ancient  parts  of  which  date  from  the 
twelfth  century,  and  resemble  in  their  beauty  the  Church 
of  S.  Michele  of  Pavia,  while  the  later  portions  on  the 
north  are  the  achievement  of  Giovanni  da  Campiglione 
in  1360. 

A  church  has  stood  on  this  spot  under  the  dedication 
of  S.  Maria  certainly  since  774.  In  1133  we  learn  that 
a  most  terrible  drought  afflicted  the  city  and  contado  of 
Bergamo.  Upon  this  followed  famine,  and  after  the 
famine  came  pestilence.  In  her  desolation  and  extremity 
Bergamo  turned  to  the  Mother  of  Mercy,  and  in  1135 
determined  to  raise  to  her  a  shrine  in  testimony  of  her 
devotion.  A  Deputazione  delta  Fahrica  was  created, 
and  the  plans  of  Maestro  Fredi  were  adopted  for  the 
building.  On  August  15,  1137,  the  Feast  of  the 
Assumption,  the  Bishop  Gregorio  of  Bergamo  laid 
the  first  stone  of  the  basilica.  With  the  foundation  of 
this  church  the  city  seems  to  have  given  itself  to  the 
Madonna,  very  much  as  Siena  did.  On  the  Feasts  of  Our 
Lady  it  was  customary  to  light  a  bonfire  on  the  top  of 
the  Torre  Comunale.  On  the  evening  of  September  7, 
i486,  the  Vigil  of  the  Nativity  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  we 
find  that  the  roof  which  used  to  cover  this  tower 
resting  upon  wooden  columns  was  burnt,  and  the  bells 


BERGAMO  173 

gravely  injured.  The  city  rebuilt  this  belfry  in  stone, 
and  so  in  spite  of  many  injuries  from  wind  and  lightning 
it  remained  till  the  year  1639,  when  the  roof  was  re- 
moved and  the  tower  crowned  by  a  great  wooden  statue 
of  the  Madonna.  On  June  15,  1685,  however,  this 
statue  was  struck  and  consumed  by  lightning  and  the 
tower  burnt  out.  The  statue  was  not  replaced,  but 
the  tower  was  then  restored  as  we  see  it. 

The  Church  of  S.  Maria  Maggiore  thus  built  in  the 
twelfth  century  in  honour  of  the  Madonna  is,  as  I  have 
said,  one  of  the  finest  Lombard  buildings  in  Italy. 
Its  greatest  beauty  is  undoubtedly  the  lovely  apse 
with  its  round-headed  windows  and  open  arcade,  which 
so  much  resembles  that  of  S.  Michele  at  Pa  via.  But 
two  exquisite  porches  on  the  north  and  south  were 
added  about  the  middle  of  the  fourteenth  century,  that 
on  the  north  by  Giovanni  Campiglione,  and  that  on  the 
south  by  his  son.  The  styles  of  these  two  perhaps  do 
not  much  diifer.  The  northern  porch  beside  the 
Cappella  Colleoni,  carved  and  fretted  with  sculpture,  is 
of  three  stages.  Above  the  round  arch  of  the  porch 
itself,  which  rests  on  two  lions  couchant  on  the  top  of  a 
flight  of  steps,  within  three  arches  are  three  statues, 
S.  Alessandro  on  horseback  between  SS.  Barnabas 
and  Proietizio.  On  the  base  on  which  the  horse  of 
S.  Alessandro  stands  is  written  :  "  Magistri  Jo.  Filii  M. 
Ughi  de  Campleone fecit  hoc  opus  mcccliii,''  Above  these, 
under  a  canopy,  is  a  statue  of  the  Madonna  and  Child 
between  S.  Esther  and  S.  Grata.  These  works  are  later 
than  the  S.  Alessandro,  and  are  probably  the  work  of 
Andreolo  de  Blanchis,  whose  noble  work  we  shall  find 
again  within  the  church. 

The  southern  portal  is  less  rich,  and  has  not  the  two 
stories  of  statues  above  its  porch.  Instead,  we  find 
there  a  sort  of  spire  of  pure  Gothic  style,  executed  about 
the  middle  of  the  fourteenth  century  by  Antonio 
d'  Alemanna.     Enclosed  in  it  we  find  the  sculptured 


174  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

figure  of  God  the  Father  enthroned,  with  the  Blessed 
Virgin  on  one  side  and  the  Archangel  Gabriel  on  the 
other.  To  the  right  of  this  porch,  towards  the  Piazza, 
is  another  covered  with  reliefs  of  the  Birth  of  the  Virgin. 

Within,  the  church  has  been  spoilt  by  restoration 
and  modernisation.  Near  to  the  western  door,  however, 
there  remains  the  fine  but  restored  tomb  under  an  arch 
of  Cardinal  Longhi  degli  Alessandri  in  alabaster,  a  work 
of  the  first  years  of  the  fourteenth  century  by  Ugo 
da  Campione,  while  to  the  right  of  the  northern  door 
are  remains  of  old  Lombard  frescoes,  the  Tree  of 
S.  Bonaventura.  The  fine  stalls,  carved  and  inlaid,  are 
noble  work  of  the  sixteenth  century,  and  in  the  sacristy 
is  a  magnificent  Crucifix,  the  work  of  that  Andreolo  de 
Blanchis  who  carved  the  Madonna  and  Child  over  the 
northern  porch  of  the  church. 

Close  beside  S.  Maria  Maggiore  stands  the  Cappella 
Colleoni,  which  was  built  by  Amadeo  in  1470  in  the  early 
Renaissance  style,  richly  adorned  with  various  marbles. 
The  Colleoni,  the  family  of  the  famous  condottiere 
in  whose  honour  Verrocchio  founded  the  great 
equestrian  statue  in  the  Piazza  di  SS.  Giovanni  e  Paolo 
in  Venice,  for  he  had  served  the  Republic,  were  natives 
of  Bergamo.  Bartolommeo  the  condottiere,  however, 
was  born  at  Scolza,  close  to  the  city,  in  the  year  1400, 
for  the  Visconti  had  driven  them  out  of  Bergamo. 
At  first  they  had  taken  refuge  in  the  Rocca  di  Frezzo,  on 
the  banks  of  the  Adda,  but  there  the  Visconti  found  them 
out,  and  Bartolommeo' s  father  and  elder  brother  were 
murdered  by  their  very  kindred,  who  were  there  their 
hosts.  His  mother,  however,  and  himself  were  spared, 
and  at  last  succeeded  in  escaping,  only  to  be  taken  by 
another  tyrant,  Benzone  of  Cremona.  Bartolommeo 
at  length  was  set  free,  and  entered  the  service  of  the 
tyrant  of  Piacenza,  where  he  served  under  the  great 
Umbrian  captain,  Braccio  da  Montone.  He  soon  became 
the  greatest  military  leader  of  his  day,  and  presently 


BERGAMO  175 

succeeded  Gattamelata  in  the  service  of  Venice.  After 
many  adventures  and  imprisonments,  he  retired  from 
active  service,  and  spent  the  last  eighteen  years  of  his 
life  at  Bergamo  (where  his  house  the  Luogo  Pio  Colleoni 
may  still  be  seen),  and  in  his  various  castles  round  about, 
always  guarded  by  six  hundred  veterans  and  surrounded 
by  learned  men  and  artists,  in  whose  society  he  delighted. 
The  chapel  he  built  here  at  Bergamo,  one  of  many,  would 
seem  to  endorse  all  we  hear  of  his  love  of  learning  and 
art,  for  in  its  ornament  it  is  a  strange  confusion  of  pagan 
divinities  and  Christian  saints.  Unfortunately,  it  has 
been  relentlessly  restored  in  the  eighteenth  century. 
Within,  the  great  commander,  who  died  in  1475,  lies  in 
the  tomb  which  Amadeo  had  designed  for  him,  and  which 
Sixtus  Siry  of  Nuremberg  in  1501  crowned  with  a 
gilded  equestrian  statue.  To  the  left  of  the  founder 
lies  his  daughter  Medea,  who  died  in  1470,  in  a  very 
beautiful  tomb,  recalling  that  of  Ilaria  at  Lucca.  This 
too  is  Amadeo' s  work,  but  it  was  originally  erected  in 
the  Church  of  Basella.  About  the  chapel  are  fine 
inlaid  stalls,  but  perhaps  its  greatest  beauty  is  its  ceiling 
paintings  by  Tiepolo.  There  we  see  this  great  master 
almost  at  his  best,  and  though  his  work  has  not  alto- 
gether escaped  the  vandal  hand  of  the  restorer  it  remains 
the  joyful  and  splendid  thing  we  are  learning  to  recognise 
and  to  love  so  well. 

Beside  the  Cappella  Colleoni  stands  the  delightful 
Baptistery  of  Giovanni  Campiglione,  wholly  restored 
in  1850,  and  opposite  the  Baptistery  stands  the  Duomo 
of  S.  Alessandro  and  S.  Vicenzo,  which  has  been  so 
often  rebuilt,  finally  by  Fontana.  In  the  choir  is  a 
fine  painting  of  the  martyrdom  of  S.  John  Baptist  by 
Tiepolo,  and  a  picture  reputed  to  be  by  Giovanni  Bellini, 
a  small  Madonna  and  Child. 

What  remains  to  be  had  in  the  way  of  sight-seeing 
in  Bergamo  may  be  briefly  described.  The  Church 
of  S.  Andrea  has  a  fine  picture  of  the  Madonna  enthroned 


176  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

with  four  saints  by  Moretto.  But  what  is  finer  here 
is  the  glorious  view  over  the  plain  to  the  hills  and  the 
mountains.  Then  we  come  to  the  Church  of  S.  Michele 
at  Pozzo  Bianco,  which  the  sacristan  of  S.  Andrea 
opens  for  us,  where  there  are  some  good  frescoes  by 
Lorenzo  Lotto  of  the  life  of  the  Virgin.  But  after  the 
wonderful  group  of  buildings  about  the  Piazza  Grande, 
the  chief  interest  of  the  traveller  in  Bergamo  lies  in 
the  picture  gallery,  the  Accademia  Carrara,  perhaps 
the  best  in  Lombardy  outside  the  city  of  Milan. 

The  Accademia  Carrara  of  Bergamo,  just  outside 
the  Porta  Santa  Caterina,  consists  of  three  collections, 
one  of  which  is  very  famous.  These  three  collections 
are  the  Galleria  Carrara,  the  Galleria  Lochis  and 
the  Galleria  Morelli. 

The  Galleria  Carrara,  bequeathed  to  Bergamo  in 
1796  by  the  Conte  Giacomo  Carrara,  consists  for  the 
most  part  of  a  collection  of  Bergamesque  and  North 
Italian  pictures,  only  one  or  two  of  which  are  of  really 
first-rate  importance.  There  we  find  three  works  by 
Lorenzo  Lotto :  the  Betrothal  of  S.  Catherine  (66), 
painted  in  1523,  a  partly  spoiled,  but  a  fine  picture ;  a 
Martyrdom  of  S.  Stephen  (356)  and  a  magnificent 
Portrait  of  a  Lady  (357),  with  a  fine  landscape  under 
moonlight.  The  collection  possesses,  too,  a  single 
Mantegna,  a  Madonna  and  Child  (153),  painted  in  tem- 
pera, a  fine  picture ;  a  Crucifixion  (154),  painted  in  1456 
by  Foppa ;  five  portraits  by  Morini,  80-83  and  355,  of 
which  81  is  an  early  work  and  82  is  the  best  work  by 
the  master  in  this  gallery ;  a  Miracle  of  S.  Dominic  (358), 
by  that  fine  painter  Borgognone;  a  Massacre  of  the 
Innocents  (137),  by  Caroto ;  and  several  works  by 
Previtali,  Cariani  and  Fra  Vittore  Ghirlandi,  masters 
who  can  be  studied  really  nowhere  else. 

The  Lochis  collection,  bequeathed  to  the  city  by 
Conte  Lochis  in  1859,  i^  more  numerous,  but  not  more 
important,  though  it  possesses  a  picture  by  Raphael,  an 


S.   MARIA   MAGGIORE,  BERGAMO 


BERGAMO  177 

early  work,  a  bust  of  S.  Sebastian.  By  Giovanni 
Busi  of  Bergamo,  called  Cariani,  we  have  in  this  collec- 
tion eleven  works,  of  which  the  Portrait  of  a  Physician 
(187),  Benedetto  Caravaggio,  is  perhaps  the  most 
notable.  It  is  here  in  his  native  city  that  this  pupil  of 
Giovanni  Bellini  and  Palma,  who  was  influenced  by 
Carpaccio  and  Giorgione,  can  best  be  studied.  By  the 
founder  of  the  Milanese  school,  Foppa,  whose  Crucifixion, 
painted  in  1456,  we  have  just  seen  in  the  Carrara  collec- 
tion, there  is  here  an  early  work,  a  S.  Jerome  (225).  By 
his  great  pupil  Borgognone  we  have  four  pictures  :  a  Head 
of  S.  Ambrose  (53),  the  picture  of  a  Procession,  really 
S.  Ambrose  and  Theodosius  (219),  the  Madonna  giving 
fruit  to  her  Child  (229)  and  an  early  Madonna  and  Child 
(131).  From  Borgognone,  whose  magnificent  Polyptych, 
painted  in  1498,  in  S.  Spirito,  in  the  lower  city,  is  one  of 
the  greater  glories  of  Bergamo,  we  pass  to  Moretto,  the 
Brescian,  by  whom  we  find  three  pictures  here :  a  Samson 
Sleeping,  in  a  landscape  (71) ;  a  Christ  with  the  Cross, 
worshipped  by  the  Donor  (177),  painted  in  1518 ;  and  a 
later  picture,  a  Holy  Family,  with  S.  John  the  Baptist 
(55)-  While  by  Bonsignori  of  Verona  v/e  have  a  portrait 
of  a  Gonzaga  (154). 

The  school  of  Ferrara  is  represented  by  a  Madonna 
and  Child  (233)  by  Cosimo  Tura,  that  adamantine 
master;  and  the  school  of  Vicenza  by  a  notable  work 
painted  in  1487  by  Montagna,  the  Madonna  with  SS. 
Roch  and  Sebastian. 

Interesting  as  these  works  are  for  the  student,  they 
have  not  the  same  attraction  for  the  traveller  as  those 
examples  of  the  Venetian  school  which  are  here  more 
plentiful  than  might  be  expected. 

The  earliest  and  most  notable  Venetian  whose  work  is 
to  be  found  here  is  Giovanni  Bellini,  whose  picture  of 
the  Madonna  and  Child  (210)  is  one  of  his  early  works. 
His  contemporary,  Carlo  Crivelli,  is  also  represented  by  a 
picture  of  the  Madonna  and  Child  (219).  From  him  we 
12 


X78  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

pass  to  the  true  Venetian  line,  with  the  Holy  Family  and 
S.  Catherine  (185),  by  Lotto,  painted  in  1523,  with  which 
it  is  delightful  to  compare  the  Marriage  of  S.  Catherine 
in  the  Carrara  collection  (66),  painted  just  ten  years 
earlier.  His  three  sketches,  containing  the  story  of 
S.  Stephen  (32-34),  are  charming  and  delightful. 

A  late  work  by  Palma  Vecchio,  the  Madonna  with  two 
Saints,  and  certain  Vintage  Scenes  by  Paris  Bordone,  the 
pupil  and  follower  of  Titian,  may  be  said  to  bring  the 
great  school  of  the  Bellini  to  an  end ;  but  Venice  may  still 
be  said  to  speak  in  the  delightful  sketch  here  by  Tiepolo 
(24),  and  in  those  pictures  of  Guardi,  which  seem  to 
bring  the  city  itself  to  us  from  far  away. 

These  two  collections,  the  Carrara  and  Lochis 
galleries,  would  be  enough  to  bring  renown  to  any  city 
half  as  lovely  as  Bergamo.  But,  as  it  happens,  they  are 
but  the  smaller  part  of  her  dowry.  In  the  year  1891, 
the  great  art  critic  and  connoisseur,  Giovanni  Morelli,  died 
at  Milan,  and  bequeathed  his  magnificent  collection  of 
pictures  to  his  native  city.  These  three  collections,  well 
arranged  by  the  Director  Signor  Frizzoni,  were,  till  the 
year  1911,  the  delight  of  every  traveller  who  entered 
Bergamo.  In  that  year  a  rearrangement  of  the  three 
collections  was  entered  upon,  and  the  gallery  was  closed 
for  a  time.  What  the  new  arrangement  may  be  we 
cannot  say,  but  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  Morelli 
collection  will  still  be  shown  as  a  thing  apart ;  for  it  is 
fully  characteristic  of  the  wise  sympathies  and  know- 
ledge of  the  great  critic  and  of  his  triumphs  of  con- 
noisseurship. 

The  strength,  if  not  the  delight,  of  the  Carrara  and 
Lochis  collections  lies  in  the  many  pictures  they  contain 
of  the  Bergamesque  and  North  Italian  schools,  and,  after 
them,  in  their  Venetian  pictures.  But  the  Morelli  Gallery 
can  boast  of  many  fine  Florentine  works  with  a  few 
pictures  of  the  Umbrian  school,  and,  on  the  principle 
of  serving  the  best  wine  first,  let  us  begin  with  these. 


BERGAMO  179 

One  can  expect  here,  of  course,  nothing  by  Giotto  or 
his  pupils,  nor  must  we  look  for  anything  by  the  great 
reviver  of  that  deathless  tradition,  Fra  Angelico.  But 
we  have  here  a  beautiful  example  of  the  work  of  his 
contemporary,  Lorenzo  Monaco,  the  follower  of  Agnolo 
Gaddi  and  the  Sienese,  in  that  picture  of  the  Dead 
Christ  (10),  a  small  panel  in  which  we  seem  to  find  some- 
thing which  prophesies  of  Fra  Lippo  Lippi.  Nothing 
by  that  great  and  vital  master  is  to  be  seen  here  ;  but  we 
have  two  pictures  by  his  pupil  Pesellino :  the  delicious 
and  fairy-like  panel,  the  Story  of  Griselda  (9)  and  the 
Florentine  arraigned  before  the  Podest^  (n) ;  the  third 
work  attributed  to  him  is  according  to  Mr.  Berenson, 
who  has  written  an  illuminating  study  of  this  collection,^ 
a  copy  of  Pesellino' s  picture  at  Altenburg  by  Pier 
Francesco  Fiorentino :  it  represents  S.  Francis  and 
S.  Jerome  (36). 

A  greater  pupil  of  Fra  Lippo,  Sandro  Botticelli,  is  to 
be  seen  here  in  a  single  panel,  the  Story  of  Virginia  (25). 
Its  companion  is  now  in  Boston.  The  Salvator  Mundi 
attributed  to  him  is  only  a  school  piece,  but  the  Giuliano 
de'  Medici  is  the  work  of  that  master  Mr.  Berenson  has 
called  Amico  di  Sandro. ^  A  painter  who  was  in  his 
later  life  influenced  by  this  master,  Francesco  Botticini, 
is  represented  here  by  a  very  lovely  picture  of  Tobias 
and  the  Angel  (33),  and  a  fellow-pupil  of  his  in  Verrocchio's 
hoUega,  Lorenzo  di  Credi,  is  seen  here  in  a  poor  Madonna 
and  Child,  but  a  Nativity  (42),  ascribed  to  him,  is,  as 
Mr.  Berenson  shows,  by  his  pupil  "Tommaso." 

Albertinelli  is  seen  here  in  two  panels  (32)  of  S.  John 
and  S.  Mary  Magdalen,  and  Bacchiacca  by  a  picture  of 
the  Death  of  Abel  (62),  while  by  Pontormo  and  his 

1  See  B.  Berenson,  "  The  Morelli  Collection  at  Bergamo,"  in  The 
Connoisseur,  vol.  iv.  No.  15  (Nov.  1902),  and  vol.  v.  No.  17 
(Jan.  1903). 

*  See  B.  Berenson,  The  Study  and  Criticism  of  Italian  Art 
(Bell,  1901),  p.  462,  etc. 


i8o  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

pupil  Bronzino  we  have,  from  the  first,  a  Portrait  of 
Baccio  Bandinelli  (59),  whom  Cellini  hated  so  devoutly, 
and,  by  the  second,  a  Portrait  of  Alessandro  de'  Medici 

(65). 

Of  the  Umbrian  school  we  have  several  pictures, 
notably  three  small  paintings  by  Luca  Signorelli  of 
S.  Roch  (19),  the  Blessed  Virgin  (20)  and  S.  Sebastian 
(24).  Signorelli  is,  however,  as  much  a  Tuscan  as  an 
Umbrian  master ;  but  we  come  upon  the  true  Umbrian 
in  a  rare  work  by  Niccolo  da  Foligno,  the  Head  of  a 
Saint  (6).  By  Fiorenzo  di  Lorenzo  of  Perugia  we  have 
a  S.  Jerome  in  the  Desert  (37),  and  by  Matteo  Balducci 
a  panel,  the  Flight  of  Clelia  (46),  while  the  school,  if 
school  it  can  be  called,  closes  with  Bernardino  Mar- 
riotto's  Piet^  (55). 

Turning  now  to  the  Venetians,  we  find  two  fine  pictures 
by  Giovanni  Bellini,  the  first  painted  about  1478,  a 
Madonna  and  Child  (27) ;  the  second,  also  a  Madonna, 
is  dated  1495,  and  in  it  we  find  a  delicious  landscape. 
Cima  too  is  found  here  in  an  early  work,  a  Madonna 
and  Child  in  a  beautiful  landscape  with  far  -  away 
mountains  (57),  and  Marco  Basaiti  with  a  good  half- 
length  Portrait  of  a  Man  (61),  painted  in  1521.  The 
school  as  represented  here  is  fortunately  closed  by 
the  masterpiece  of  Pietro  Longhi,  an  astonishing  picture, 
the  Portrait  of  a  Girl  (94). 

From  Venice  we  pass  to  Verona,  and  of  this  school 
there  are  some  fine  examples,  beginning  with  the  noble 
portrait  of  Leonello  d'  Este  (17),  by  that  very  rare 
master,  Pisanello.  Here  also  is  a  late  picture,  the 
Widow's  Son  (45),  by  Francesco  Bonsignori,  the  pupil 
of  Bartolommeo  and  Alvise  Vivarini,  who  was  in  his 
later  life  so  much  under  the  influence  of  Mantegna  and 
Liberale  of  Verona.  By  a  pupil  of  that  last  master, 
Francesco  Caroto,  we  have  a  Judgment  of  Solomon  (2), 
which  should  be  compared  with  the  Massacre  of  the 
Innocents  (137),  painted  in  1527,  in  the  Carrara  Collec- 


BERGAMO  i8i 

tion,  and  the  Adoration  of  the  Magi  (170),  in  the  Lochis 
Collection  here.  By  another  pupil  of  Liberale,  Niccolb 
Giolfino,  we  have  a  Madonna  and  Child  (105),  and  by 
his  contemporary,  Francesco  Morone,  again  a  Madonna 
and  Child  (52),  which  should  be  compared  with  the 
Madonna  and  four  Saints  (188),  painted  by  the  same 
master  in  1520,  in  the  Carrara  Collection.  By  another 
pupil  of  Domenico  Morone,  the  father  of  Francesco, 
Girolamo  dai  Libri,  we  have  a  wonderfully  haggard 
vision  of  S.  John  reading  (50),  and  by  his  contemporary 
and  fellow-pupil,  Cavazzola,  a  fine  Portrait  of  a  Lady 

(64). 

From  Verona  we  pass  to  Brescia.  The  Morelli  Col- 
lection boasts  of  five  fine  works  of  this  school :  a  Shrine 
with  the  Annunciation  (3),  by  Civerchio,  the  founder 
of  the  school ;  a  Portrait  of  an  insolent  Young  Man 
(98),  by  Romanino ;  two  works  by  Moretto,  a  Christ 
and  the  Woman  of  Samaria  (loi),  in  a  lovely  cool 
landscape,  an  early  work  by  the  master,  and  a  Madonna 
and  Child  with  S.  Jerome  (96) ;  and  a  good  Portrait  (85) 
by  Moroni. 

By  the  Bergamo  masters  we  have  two  works  by 
Cariani,  a  life-size  Bust  of  a  Man  (99)  and  a  Santa 
Conversazione  in  a  delicious  landscape.  While  the 
school  of  Cremona  is  represented  by  a  Holy  Family 
(104),  by  Sofonisba  Anguissola ;  this  is  an  early  work, 
signed  and  painted  in  1559. 

So  we  pass  to  the  Milanese,  and  first  to  Borgognone, 
the  greatest  master  of  the  school,  in  a  fine  work  of  his 
middle  period,  a  S.  Margaret  (43),  and  in  a  S.  John  (40). 
Borgognone  had  been  the  pupil  of  Foppa,  and  had  come 
only  very  slightly  under  the  influence  of  Leonardo  at 
the  end  of  his  life.  Ambrogio  de  Predis,  however,  who 
has  here  a  fine  picture,  the  Head  of  a  Young  Page  (26), 
and  perhaps  another  picture,  the  Portrait  of  a  Man  (28), 
was  altogether  formed  under  the  influence  of  Foppa 
and    the    disastrous    great    Florentine.     Luini,    whose 


l82  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

charming  picture  of  the  Madonna  with  the  Child  and 
the  little  S.  John  is  a  delight,  was  even  more  at  the  mercy 
of  his  understanding  of  Leonardo's  mighty  art,  though 
he  had  passed  through  Borgognone's  hands.  And  in 
Boltraffio  we  find  indeed  a  mere  imitation  of  Leonardo, 
yet  his  bust  of  Christ,  crowned  with  ivy,  is  one  of  the 
most  astonishing  pictures  in  North  Italy  and  one  which 
compels  our  respect.  To  end  the  Milanese  we  have  two 
pictures  by  the  Sienese,  Sodoma,  whose  art — and  he  was 
a  very  great  craftsman — was  also  overwhelmed  by 
Leonardo.  His  fantastic  Portrait  of  a  Man  (66)  Mr. 
Berenson  takes  to  be  Sodoma* s  portrait  of  himself :  it 
certainly  reminds  one  of  Vasari's  account  of  him ;  while 
his  Madonna  and  Child  (60)  is  what  we  might  expect. 

Beside  the  pictures  of  which  I  have  spoken,  Morelli 
possessed  several  good  works  of  the  Ferrara-Bologna 
school  and  two  masterpieces  by  northern  painters,  a 
Portrait  of  a  Woman,  by  Rembrandt,  and  a  Portrait  of  a 
Young  Man,  by  Franz  Hals,  which  should  not  be  missed. 
Nor  should  one  by  any  means  fail  to  see  the  three  splendid 
terra-cottas  by  Quercia,  Donatello  and  Benedetto  da 
Maiano,  which  are  alone  sufficient  to  make  the  Acca- 
demia  Carrara  famous. 

When  all  is  said,  however,  the  true  delight  of  Bergamo 
will  always  be  found  in  Bergamo  herself :  in  her  winding, 
steep  streets,  her  narrow  ways,  her  windy  piazzas,  her 
shady  ramparts  and  marvellous  views  of  blue,  far-away 
mountains,  so  often  covered  with  snow,  and  of  the 
valleys  and  the  plain,  green  and  silver  and  gold,  and  the 
glory  of  the  setting  sun. 


CHAPTER    XI 
BRESCIA 

THERE  is  no  more  delightful  and  consoling  road 
in  all  North  Italy,  south  of  the  mountains,  than 
that  which  leads  at  last  from  Bergamo  to  Brescia.  This 
book  does  not  propose  to  deal  with  the  mountains, 
the  Bergamesque  and  Brescian  Alps,  for  they  deserve 
and  shall  have  a  book  to  themselves;  therefore  I  say 
nothing  of  such  places  as  Alzano  and  its  Lottos ;  it  is 
the  plain  with  which  we  are  concerned,  the  true  Cis- 
alpine Gaul  and  the  true  Lombardy,  and  I  know  not 
where  in  all  that  vast  country  you  will  better  the  thirty 
miles  that  lie  between  Bergamo  and  Brescia.  For  the 
way  is  by  no  means  a  monotony  of  flatness,  but  is  broken 
by  low  hills  and  downs,  and  little  passes  and  valleys 
about  the  feet  of  the  mountains,  and  there,  on  the  hill- 
tops or  beside  the  rivers,  stands  many  a  fair  town  worthy 
of  remembrance,  to  say  nothing  of  the  castles,  shrines 
and  churches  which  are  often  worthy  of  Tuscany,  and 
of  Tuscany  at  its  best.  And  this  is  especially  the 
reward  of  him  who  will  go  slowly,  loitering  by  the  way. 
There  is  nothing  at  all,  for  instance,  to  see  in  Seriate, 
some  three  miles  out  of  Bergamo,  but  it  is  the  key  to  a 
fine  country  away  to  the  south,  where,  by  tramway,  you 
may  reach  in  no  time  the  great  Castle  of  Malpaga 
which  Bartolommeo  Colleoni,  the  condottiere,  built,  and 
which  the  Martinenghi  inherited  from  him  and  held 
until  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century.     I   said 

there  were  castles  on  the  way.     Indeed,  no  castle  to  be 

183 


i84  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

found  in  all  Italy  is  more  splendid  than  this,  or  less 
spoiled  by  the  hands  of  fools.  It  is  worth  almost  any 
trouble  to  see,  and  since  it  may  be  had  in  a  single  day 
there  and  back  from  Bergamo,  it  is  amazing  that  it  is 
not  better  known. 

The  ten  miles  between  Seriate  and  Gorlago  are,  I 
confess  it,  nothing  to  boast  of ;  but  they  are,  as  it  were, 
the  threshold  to  the  rest,  which  will  well  repay  the 
walker.  For  at  Gorlago  the  scenery  begins  to  be  fine, 
to  be  uplifted  with  hills  terraced  with  vines  and  broken 
by  little  valleys.  As  for  Gorlago  itself,  it  is  a  treasure 
that  none  even  take  the  trouble  to  see.  Yet  in  its 
Parish  Church  are  two  pictures  by  Giovanni  Battista 
Moroni,  the  pupil  of  Moretto,  an  Adoration  of  the  Magi 
and  a  picture  of  Three  Saints,  S.  Gottardo,  S.  Lorenzo 
and  S.  Caterina.  And  then,  scarcely  two  miles  away,  to 
the  south  stands  the  Castello  Costa  di  Mezzate,  where 
are  three  portraits  by  the  same  master,  and  a  Lorenzo 
Lotto,  a  Marriage  of  S.  Catherine,  painted  in  1522,  to 
say  nothing  of  the  fine  armoury,  with  its  memories  of 
the  great  days  of  Brescia,  and  the  marvellous  view  to 
be  had  thence  over  mountain  and  plain. 

From  Gorlago,  too,  Trescore  may  easily  be  reached,  a 
place  in  the  hills  celebrated  from  of  old  for  its  hot 
springs,  and  there  in  the  Suardi  Chapel  of  S.  Barbara 
are  some  fine  frescoes  by  Lotto,  painted  in  1524,  of  the 
life  of  that  Saint.  Then  we  come  under  Monte  del 
Castello  to  Chiudino,  a  very  pretty  small  town  with  a 
fine  tower,  the  hills  as  a  near  background,  and  all  to  the 
south  the  immensity  of  the  plain  ;  and  so  to  Grumello 
with  its  great  square  battlemented  tower,  and  Caleppio 
beyond  it,  and  then  to  Palazzuolo,  happy  places. 

Palazzuolo  sulF  Oglio,  which  stands  on  both  sides  of 
the  river  which  forks  about  its  citadel,  was  the  great 
disputed  fortress  of  the  Bergamaschi  and  the  Brescians. 
And  here  perhaps  the  traveller  will  be  wise  to  take  the 
tram  into  Brescia,  for  all  before  him  is  only  the  large- 


BRESCIA  185 

ness  of  the  plain,  too  vast  for  walking  and  too  mono- 
tonous for  enjoyment,  that  the  motor-car  alone  can  make 
a  delight. 

Brescia — Brixia,  as  the  Romans  called  it — ^was,  accord- 
ing to  Catullus,  the  mother- town  of  his  Verona — "Veronae 
mater  amata  meae."  It  began  apparently  as  a  town  of 
the  Cenomani,  and  after  the  Roman  conquest  flourished 
exceedingly.  The  old  Roman  town  as  Catullus  knew  it 
was  traversed  by  the  river  Mela — "  Flavus  quam  molli 
percurrit  fiumine  Mela  " — which  now  flows  a  mile  to  the 
west  of  it,  Brescia  standing  indeed  on  a  much  smaller 
stream,  the  Garza.  Yet  excavation  and  the  ruins  still 
above  ground  would  seem  to  prove  that  the  Brescia  we 
know  stands  upon  the  same  site  as  the  Roman  city. 
These  ruins  are  of  very  considerable  importance,  the 
most  remarkable  being  the  Temple  called  of  Hercules, 
though  it  is  doubtful  whether  this  was  not  rather  a 
basilica.  Part  of  a  theatre  may  also  be  seen,  and 
certain  Corinthian  columns  supposed  to  be  part  of  the 
Forum,  together  with  a  host  of  fragments  and  one 
superb  work  of  art,  the  bronze  Victory,  the  greatest 
treasure  of  the  city.  A  factory  of  arms,  the  very  name 
sounds  like  the  swish  and  song  of  a  sword,  Brescia 
r  Armata  was  plundered  by  the  Huns  under  Attila  in 
452  ;  but,  like  most  of  the  other  towns  so  dealt  with,  she 
recovered  from  this  disaster,  and  under  the  Lombards 
became  one  of  the  principal  of  their  towns,  the  capital  of 
a  duchy.  In  the  twelfth  century  Brescia  produced  one  of 
the  forerunners  of  the  Revolution  in  Arnold  of  Brescia, 
who  was  educated  in  France  under  Abelard.  He  became 
a  monk,  and  returning  to  Brescia  strove  to  rouse  the 
people  against  the  Bishop,  then  virtually  the  ruler  of  the 
city.  The  Lateran  Council  of  1139  banished  him  from 
Italy.  He  returned  to  France,  and  came  face  to  face  with 
S.  Bernard,  the  supreme  opponent  of  the  movement  which 
Abelard  and  Arnold  stood  for.  Like  Abelard  he  was 
worsted,  and  retired  to  Ziirich,  where  he  remained  for 


i86  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

five  years.  The  insurrection  of  1143  found  him  in  Rome, 
however,  where  he  no  less  than  Rienzi  strove  to  found  a 
Republic  on  the  ancient  model,  in  vain,  for  again  he  was 
confronted  by  a  great  man  in  the  person  of  the  English- 
man Nicholas  Breakspear,  Hadrian  iv.,  who  laid  Rome 
under  an  interdict,  broke  Arnold's  party  in  pieces  and 
drove  him  from  the  city  into  Campania.  On  the  arrival 
of  Frederick  Barbarossa  in  1155,  Arnold  was  arrested, 
brought  to  Rome  and  hanged ;  his  body  was  burned  and 
thrown  into  the  Tiber. 

The  Emperor  Frederick  Barbarossa  had  known  how 
to  deal  with  this  Brescia's  most  famous  son,  but  Freder- 
ick II.  found  Brescia  itself  a  harder  business.  In  1238 
he  besieged  the  city  for  two  months  in  vain,  and  retired 
without  capturing  it.  This  feat,  however,  was  accom- 
plished by  Ezzelino  twenty  years  later,  and  a  reign  of 
terror  followed.  Those  who  opposed  him  this  devil 
chained  to  a  block  of  stone  in  an  open  field  and  left  to 
perish  of  hunger.  Nevertheless,  Brescia  avenged  herself. 
It  was  a  Brescian  sword  in  the  hands  of  a  Brescian 
that  in  1259,  ^^  ^^^  Bridge  of  Cassano,  ended  that  life 
which  had  turned  all  this  country  into  a  hell. 

Brescia  then  fell  to  the  Scaligers  of  Verona,  and,  with 
the  fall  of  their  house,  came  to  Milan  and  the  Visconti. 
After  the  Peace  of  S.  Giorgio,  however,  in  1426,  Venice 
acquired  Brescia,  just  as  two  years  later,  after  the  Peace 
of  Ferrara,  she  got  Bergamo.  The  city,  however,  fell  to 
the  French  at  Cambray,  but  after  the  battle  of  Ravenna 
and  the  death  of  Gaston  de  Foix  in  1512,  Brescia,  with 
the  rest  of  the  mainland  possessions  of  Venice,  returned 
to  her  of  their  own  accord. 

The  French  indeed  held  the  place,  as  we  should  say, 
at  the  point  of  the  bayonet.  Among  the  most  glorious 
memories  of  the  city  is  the  rising  against  Chevalier 
Bayard  and  Gaston  de  Foix,  in  which  it  is  said  some 
20,000  were  slain.  The  horrors  of  that  time  can  never 
be   forgotten.     The   French   cut   the   children   out   of 


J  '  *  J*  »  •  J 


m 

i 


VICTORY 
Hronze  in  the  Museum,  F 


BRESCIA  187 

their  mothers'  arms  even  in  the  sanctuaries  of  the 
churches.  On  the  other  hand,  many  a  chivalrous  story 
is  told  of  the  Chevalier,  sans  peur  et  sans  reproche, 
by  the  Loyal  Serviteur.  But  the  fact  remains  that 
Brescia  was  the  ruin  of  the  French  cause  in  Italy ;  for, 
as  the  Loyal  Serviteur  declares,  "  they  gained  so  much 
there  that  a  great  part  of  them  returned  home,  forsaking 
the  war,  and  were  vastly  missed  later  at  the  battle  of 
Ravenna." 

It  was  an  almost  depopulated  city  that  placed  herself 
again  in  Venetian  power  in  1512,  not  to  leave  it  till 
1797.  When  Austria  was  re-established  in  Lombardy 
the  German  rule  was  found  to  be  as  great  a  curse 
in  Brescia  as  it  has  proved  always  everywhere  else  in 
Italy.  Verona  was  ruined;  Brescia  was  compelled  to 
close  her  armouries  because  the  Austrians  sent  their 
orders  to  Germany.  In  the  war  of  1848  Brescia  rose, 
though  all  Lombardy  and  Venetia  were  under  a  relentless 
praetorian  rule.  She  resisted  for  ten  days,  till  the  butcher 
Haynau  crushed  her  with  atrocities  I  dare  not  write  of, 
whose  horrors  rang  through  Europe  :  for  by  this  you 
may  know  the  German,  there  is  always  blood  upon  his 
feet.  If  Haynau  was  an  incarnate  devil,  Radetzky 
was  even  worse,  indeed  his  truly  German  nature  was  too 
much  even  for  the  Austrians,  who  tried  to  curb  him 
though  they  dared  not  break  him.  Ten  years  later 
Austria  was  on  the  run,  and  the  Germans  were  sent  back 
to  their  lairs  on  the  north  of  the  Alps,  where  may  God 
secure  them  for  ever ! 

The  city  of  Brescia,  which  has  thus  known  so  many 
agonies,  is  a  quiet  little  place,  crouched  like  a  mouse, 
hid  under  its  Castello  at  the  foot  of  the  great  hills. 
And  if  we  except  the  Roman  ruins,  and  the  old 
Cathedral  and  the  Broletto,  the  town  for  us  is  really 
just  a  delightful  picture  gallery,  where  one  wanders 
at  random  from  church  to  church  in  search  of  the 
pictures  of  the  native  school  of  painting.    The  greater 


i88  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

of  her  masters  were,  of  course,  Romanino  and  Moretto, 
but  they  were  not  the  first.  The  school  was  really 
founded  by  Foppa,  or  at  least  he  was  the  master  of  the 
two  painters  who  may  be  said  to  have  founded  Brescian 
painting :  Civerchio  (c.  1470-1544)  and  Ferramola,  whose 
pupils  were  the  two  great  artists  whose  names  stand 
for  Brescia  through  the  world  to-day.  We  shall  come 
to  the  works  of  these  men  scattered  everywhere  through 
the  city,  like  flowers  on  our  way. 

Let  us  first  turn  to  the  Roman  work  left  here  and  then 
to  the  Cathedral.  If  we  do  so,  we  shall  come  first  quite 
through  the  city  to  the  Museo  Civico  in  the  old  Temple 
or  Basilica  on  the  hillside,  which  was  excavated  in  1822, 
and  which  inscriptions  tell  us  was  erected  by  Vespasian 
in  A.D.  72.  Beautiful  and  picturesque  in  its  ruin,  it  is 
built  upon  a  lofty  crypt,  and  must  once  have  been  a 
great  and  formidable  piece  of  work.  Even  to-day, 
eighteen  hundred  years  after  its  foundation,  it  aston- 
ishes by  its  size  and  the  beauty  of  its  columns.  Within 
we  may  see  something  of  its  original  pavement;  but 
its  great  treasure  is  the  magnificent  statue  of  Victory 
in  gilded  bronze,  nearly  seven  feet  in  height,  which 
was  found  here  in  1826.  This  is  undoubtedly,  for  its 
beauty  of  form,  for  its  grace  and  its  majesty,  one  of  the 
most  perfect  reproductions  ever  contrived  from  a  great 
original.  It  stands  there  like  a  Deity ;  may  it  be  the 
Divine  Genius  of  a  restored  Italy. 

Not  far  away  from  these  ruins  are  others  of  the  Curia 
and  a  few  traces  of  the  Theatre,  but  that  marvellous 
statue  has  put  us  out  of  sympathy  with  mere  curiosities ; 
we  seek  beauty,  and  we  shall  find  it  in  the  other  Museum 
of  the  town,  the  Museo  Medioevale.  This  was  of  old 
two,  or  rather  three  churches,  one,  S.  Salvatore  of  the 
eighth,  the  other,  S.  Giulia  of  the  fifteenth  and  sixteenth 
centuries.  We  come  first  into  the  sixteenth- century 
building,  which  contains  a  host  of  curious  relics  of 
Lombard  times  and  a  few  beautiful  things,  notably  the 


BRESCIA  189 

Cross  of  Galla  Placidia,  certainly  of  eighth-century 
workmanship,  decorated  with  gems  and  with  portraits 
of  the  Empress  herself  and  of  her  brother  Honorius  and 
her  son  Valentinian.  Close  by,  however,  we  see  some- 
thing older,  indeed  of  the  fifth  century,  in  those  ivory 
reliefs  which  recall  to  us  the  names  of  Boethius  and 
Lampadius ;  and  in  the  sides  of  a  reliquary,  arranged  in 
the  shape  of  a  cross,  we  seem  in  truth  to  have  work 
of  the  fourth  century.  The  fifteenth-century  church, 
with  its  sixteenth-century  tombs,  from  the  Church  of 
S.  Cristo,  and  its  beautiful  lectern,  is  worth  seeing,  as 
is  certainly  the  eighth-century  S.  Salvatore,  which  lies 
below  and  beyond  it,  with  its  lovely  capitals  and  carvings. 

These  two  museums,  a  temple  and  three  churches,  will 
be  enough  to  make  any  traveller  in  love  with  Brescia ; 
yet  the  city  still  remains  to  be  seen,  and  if  these  have 
enticed  him  to  remain,  Brescia  herself  shall  entrance  him. 

The  centre  of  Brescia  is  the  Piazza  del  Comune,  where 
stands  the  beautiful  Loggia  of  Fromentone  of  Vicenza 
(1492),  finished  by  Palladio  and  Jacopo  Sansovino,  who 
completed  it  with  a  lovely  frieze  of  putti.  The  octagon 
above  is  a  work  of  the  eighteenth  century.  To 
Fromentone  is  also  due  the  Archivio  close  by. 

Opposite  La  Loggia,  over  an  arcade,  stands  the  Torre 
deir  Orologio,  almost  a  copy  of  that  at  Venice ;  and  to 
the  front  of  it  a  little  to  the  right  in  the  Piazza  stands 
the  memorial  to  those  Martyrs  of  Liberty  who  fell  in  the 
rising  of  1849. 

The  Piazza  is  closed  on  the  south  by  the  Monte  di 
Pieta,  a  lovely  building  of  the  later  fifteenth  century. 

We  leave  the  Piazza  by  the  Via  de'  Spadaji  to  the 
south,  and,  taking  the  first  street  on  the  right,  come  at 
once  into  the  Piazza  del  Duomo.  Before  us  stands  on 
the  far  left  the  Broletto,  a  heavy  building  dating  origin- 
ally from  the  twelfth  century,  and  until  the  fifteenth 
the  Municipio  ;  and  above  it  the  Torre  del  Popolo, 
which  has  soared  there  for  seven  hundred  years ;    and 


190  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

the  two  Cathedrals,  the  Duomo  Nuovo  and  the  Duomo 
Vecchio  of  S.  Maria  or  La  Rotonda.  Here  in  this 
massive  round  church  we  see  united  three  distinct 
buildings,  the  Rotunda,  the  Crypt  and  the  Presbytery. 
The  Crypt  is  certainly  of  the  ninth  century,  the 
Basilica  di  S.  Filastro.  It  is  upheld  by  forty-two 
columns,  and  consists  of  five  naves  with  three  apses. 
It  is  a  building  of  the  eighth  or  ninth  century  ;  and  we 
know  that  in  838  the  Bishop  Ramperto  transported 
hither  the  body  of  S.  Filastro.  The  Rotunda  itself  is 
a  building  of  the  early  years  of  the  twelfth  century,  and 
probably  stands  on  the  site  of  a  building  we  hear  of 
as  burnt  in  1097.  The  question  remains  whether  we 
are  to  account  for  its  shape  by  the  Crusades,  that  is  to 
say,  whether  it  was  built  in  imitation  of  the  Church  of 
the  Holy  Sepulchre,  or,  as  seems  much  less  likely, 
whether  it  was  a  copy  of  the  Pantheon  in  Rome. 

The  interior  of  the  Rotunda  has  been  much  modernised; 
the  choir  was  added  in  the  fifteenth  century  and  the 
chapels  in  the  sixteenth ;  much,  too,  has  been  changed 
even  of  these  additions  in  modern  "  restoration." 
Nevertheless,  we  may  get  a  general  idea  of  the  church 
even  as  it  is.  The  nave  was  circular,  formed  by  a 
colonnade  of  eight  pillars,  which  uphold  the  round 
arches  which,  with  the  vast  walls,  bear  the  dome.  The 
medieval  tombs  of  four  Bishops  of  Brescia  also  remain. 
In  the  choir  is  a  fine  picture  of  the  Assumption  by 
Moretto,  painted  in  1526,  and  at  the  sides  a  Presentation 
in  the  Temple  and  a  Visitation  by  Romanino. 

The  Duomo  Nuovo,  from  which  one  generally  enters 
La  Rotunda,  is  a  great  church  of  the  seventeenth  century, 
built  in  the  form,  then  so  popular,  of  a  Greek  cross,  with 
a  lengthened  choir.  In  a  tomb  by  the  third  altar  on 
the  right  now  lie  the  remains  of  S.  Filastro,  with  those  of 
S.  Apollonio,  brought  here  from  the  crypt  of  La  Rotunda 
in  1674. 

We  now  set  out  to  see  the  churches  and  the  many 


•  •  .•  .  •  •• 


BRESCIA  191 

pictures  they  contain.  On  leaving  the  Piazza  del 
Duomo  by  the  street  between  the  Duomo  and  the 
Broletto  we  have  in  front  of  us  the  Biblioteca  Queriniana, 
with  its  fine  library,  given  to  the  town  in  1747  by  Cardinal 
Querini.  Following  the  Via  di  Torre  d'  Ercole,  we  take 
the  Via  di  S.  Clemen te,  the  fifth  turning  on  the  left,  and 
come  to  the  Church  of  S.  Clemen  te,  where  there  is  not 
only  the  tomb  and  monument  of  Moretto,  but  also  five  of 
his  works.  Over  the  high  altar  is  a  magnificent  picture  of 
the  Blessed  Virgin  with  her  little  Son  in  a  bower,  and 
below,  S.  Catharine,  S.  Dominic,  S.  Clement,  S.  George 
and  S.  Mary  Magdalen.  In  the  second  chapel  on  the 
right  we  have  another  masterpiece,  a  picture  of  the  Five 
Wise  Virgins,  S.  Cecilia,  S.  Agatha,  S.  Lucy,  S.  Barbara 
and  S.  Agnes.  Opposite,  at  the  first  altar,  on  the  left,  is  a 
picture,  by  the  same  master,  of  S.  Ursula  and  her  com- 
panions. While  at  the  third  altar  we  have  the  Virgin 
and  Child  on  high,  between  the  two  Saints  Catherine,  and 
below  S.  Paul  and  S.  Jerome.  Over  the  fourth  altar  is 
a  picture  of  the  Offering  of  Melchisedec. 

Not  far  away  is  S.  Maria  Calchera,  which  contains  two 
of  Moretto's  pictures  and  one  of  Romanino's.  Over 
the  first  altar,  on  the  south,  is  one  of  Christ  at  the  House 
of  Simon  the  Pharisee,  and  in  a  small  chapel,  by  the 
pulpit,  a  Pieta  with  S.  Jerome  and  perhaps  S.  Dorothy  : 
these  by  Moretto.  Over  the  third  altar,  on  the  north,  is  a 
splendid  work  by  Romanino  of  S.  Apollonius  celebrating 
Mass,  attended  by  S.  Faustinus  and  S.  Jo  vita,  while 
four  figures  kneel  in  adoration. 

From  S.  Maria  Calchera  one  returns  to  the  Piazza 
del  Comune  and  then  proceeds  down  the  Corso  past  the 
Torre  della  Pallata  to  S.  Giovanni  Evangelista.  This 
is  a  great  twelfth-century  tower,  erected  in  the  second 
circuit  of  the  walls  to  defend  the  old  gates  of  S.  John. 

The  church  possesses  some  of  the  finest  pictures  in 
the  city.  There  we  see,  over  the  third  altar  in  the 
north  aisle,  an  early  work  by  Moretto,  the  Massacre  of 


192  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

the  Innocents,  and  in  the  choir  behind  the  high  altar 
a  great  altarpiece  of  the  Madonna  and  Child  in  the 
midst,  with  God  the  Father  above,  and  about  Madonna, 
S.  John  the  Baptist,  S.  Zacharias,  S.  Augustine  and 
S.  Agnes.  In  the  Chapel  of  the  Blessed  Sacrament 
close  by  we  see  on  the  right  some  frescoes,  early  work 
by  the  same  painter,  and  there,  too,  a  touching  Pieta 
by  the  shadowy  master  of  Moretto,  Civerchio,  with  a 
beautiful  lunette  of  the  Coronation  of  the  Virgin  by 
Romanino,  who  painted  also  the  frescoes  here  on  the 
left.  While  in  the  baptistery  is  a  notable  work  by 
Francia  of  the  Blessed  Trinity  adored  by  Saints. 

Not  far  from  S.  Giovanni  is  S.  Maria  del  Carmine,  a 
beautiful  Renaissance  church  with  a  fresco  of  the 
Annunciation,  by  Ferramola,  the  founder,  with  Civerchio, 
of  the  Brescian  school,  and  in  the  third  chapel,  on  the 
south,  a  ceiling  painting  of  the  Fathers  of  the  Church,  by 
Foppa. 

At  the  end  of  the  Via  S.  Rocco,  which  we  crossed  to 
reach  the  Carmine,  stands  S.  Maria  delle  Grazie,  a  church 
of  the  Gerolimini,  begun  in  1522,  but  with  a  portal  of 
the  fifteenth  century  brought  hither  from  some  other 
unknown  sanctuary.  Here  over  the  first  altar  on  the 
Gospel  side  we  have  another  work  by  Foppa,  a  Madonna 
in  Heaven  with  four  saints  below.  Over  the  high  altar 
is  a  splendid  picture,  the  Nativity  of  the  Blessed  Virgin, 
by  Moretto,  and  in  the  chapel,  to  the  right  of  the  choir, 
another  fine  altarpiece  by  this  master,  a  Madonna  in 
Heaven  with  S.  Sebastian,  S.  Ambrose  and  S.  Roch 
below. 

From  S.  Maria  delle  Grazie  we  proceed  northward  quite 
across  the  city  to  SS.  Nazaro  and  Celso,  an  eighteenth- 
century  church  which,  however,  possesses  some  magnifi- 
cent pictures. 

And  first  let  us  turn  to  the  great  polyptych  over  the 
high  altar,  a  veritable  work  by  Titian,  the  finest  picture 
in  the  city,  painted  and  signed  by  him  in  1522.     This 


BRESCIA  193 

magnificent  work,  though  so  different,  was  painted  at 
the  same  time  as  the  Entombment  now  in  the  Louvre. 
It  was  the  gift  of  Altobello  di  Averoldo,  Bishop  of  Pola 
and  papal  legate  of  Venice,  to  the  high  altar  of  this 
church.  Titian  took  three  years  to  complete  it,  and 
one  must  confess  that  though  evidently  the  greatest 
care  has  been  expended  upon  it,  it  is  not  wholly  satis- 
factory. One  divines  that  the  painter  is  not  wholly 
to  blame  for  this  :  that  the  variety  of  the  subject 
imposed  upon  him  was  alien  to  him.  Because  the 
Bishop  wished  a  series  of  scenes  that  could  not  be 
combined,  Titian  was  forced  to  use  the  form  of  the 
polyptych.  There  we  see  five  pictures,  not  one.  The 
centre  panel,  the  Resurrection,  fills  the  whole  height  of 
the  altarpiece,  but  the  side  panels  are  divided  into  two 
unequal  parts,  the  two  upper  and  smaller  contain  half- 
figures  of  the  Madonna  and  the  Angel  of  Annunciation  ; 
the  lower  panel  on  the  left  shows  us  S.  Nazaro  presenting 
the  donor  to  the  risen  Christ ;  in  the  lower  panel  on  the 
other  side  we  have  a  truly  titanic  figure  of  S.  Sebastian, 
which  might  stand  for  Prometheus.  This  panel  alone 
might  seem  to  account  for  much  in  the  work  of  the 
Brescian  school. 

Three  pictures  by  Moretto  should  not  be  missed.  On 
the  second  altar  on  the  Gospel  side  is  a  beautiful  Corona- 
tion of  the  Virgin  with  Saints — of  all  Moretto' s  altarpieces 
the  one  I  love  best.  Opposite,  on  the  Epistle  side  of  the 
church,  over  the  third  altar,  is  a  spoilt  Nativity  with 
Saints,  by  the  same  master,  and  in  the  sacristy  we  find 
the  predella  of  this  last.  Nor  is  this  all,  for  on  the  organ 
shutter  is  an  Annunciation  by  Foppa,  and  over  the  side 
door  at  the  west  end  of  the  church  a  huge  painting  of 
the  Martyrdom  of  SS.  Nazaro  and  Celso,  ascribed  to  the 
same  master. 

The  church  is  worth  lingering  in,  and  the  small 
sanctuary  of  the  Madonna  dei  Miracoli  in  the  Corso  close 
by,  with  its  lovely  fagade  and  fine  domes,  is  perhaps  the 
13 


194  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

most  charming  Renaissance  building  in  the  city.  Yet 
on  no  account  should  the  traveller  fail  to  visit  another 
church  in  this  neighbourhood,  S.  Francesco,  where  a 
fine  altarpiece  by  More t to  leads  us  to  Romanino's 
masterpiece,  over  the  high  altar,  in  which  we  see  the 
Madonna  and  Child  enthroned  between  six  saints,  while 
two  child  angels  hold  up  a  canopy  over  her  head. 

There  are  many  other  churches  in  Brescia  which  the 
more  leisurely  traveller  will  delight  to  visit.  Among 
such  is  S.  Agata,  which  is  said  to  have  been  founded  by 
Queen  Theodolinda ;  S.  Alessandro,  formerly  belonging  to 
the  Servites,  where  there  are  still  a  Pieta  by  Civerchio, 
and  the  most  beautiful  early  picture  in  Brescia,  an 
Annunciation,  perhaps  by  Jacopo  Bellini,  an  altogether 
adorable  and  lovely  thing;  and  S.  Pietro  in  Oliveto  under 
the  Castello,  with  its  beautiful  old  convent  and  fine 
Renaissance  doorway.  But  of  them  all  I  suppose  S. 
Afra  is  the  only  one  that  must  not  be  omitted.  Here 
over  the  high  altar  is  an  Ascension  by  Tintoretto,  and 
a  fine  Venetian  picture  sometimes  ascribed  to  Titian 
of  the  Woman  taken  in  Adultery.  Over  the  second 
altar,  too,  on  the  Gospel  side,  is  a  Paolo  Veronese, 
the  martyrdom  of  that  S.  Afra  who  names  the 
church. 

And  for  those  who  are  in  love  with  those  two  great 
Brescian  masters,  Moretto  and  Romanino,  there  remains 
to  be  seen  the  Ateneo  Martinengo,  the  picture  gallery 
where  several  of  their  best  works  have  been  collected. 
It  is  with  their  silvery  tones  and  quietness  that  we 
shall  be  wise  to  pass  our  days  in  this  little  city  at 
the  foot  of  the  mountains,  where  so  many  heroic  actions 
have  been  achieved,  and  so  much  that  was  worth  doing 
has  been  done. 

If  this  seems  to  require  confirmation  and  proof,  let  the 
traveller  go  with  me,  as  he  shall  do,  and  that  largely 
afoot,  to  Mantua  across  the  battlefield  of  Solferino. 
That  was  but  the  latest  of  those  heroic  feats  of  arms  and 


BRESCIA  195 

resistance  which  Brescia  has  known  how  to  achieve  in 
the  cause  that  is  Europe ;  they  began  when  the  bar- 
barians broke  in  in  the  fifth  century,  and  who  shall  say 
that  they  are  ended,  though,  indeed,  after  Solferino 
the  barbarians  have  been  driven  home. 


CHAPTER    Xn 

LAGO  D'  ISEO,  LAGO  DI  GARDA  AND 
THREE  BATTLEFIELDS 

THERE  are  two  excursions  that  are  easily  made 
from  Brescia,  and  neither  should  on  any  account 
be  omitted :  I  mean  a  visit  to  the  Lago  d'  Iseo  and  a 
visit  to  the  Lago  di  Garda. 

The  Lago  d'  Iseo,  within  an  hour  of  Brescia  by  train 
and  but  fifteen  miles  by  road,  though  by  far  the  least 
known,  is  by  no  means  the  least  beautiful  of  the  lakes 
of  Lombardy.  The  Lacus  Sebinus  of  the  Romans,  it 
would  seem  to  have  been  as  little  known  to  them  as  it  is 
io  us,  for  Pliny  is  the  only  writer  who  speaks  of  it.  It 
owes  its  beauty,  indeed,  to  its  narrowness,  and  the  height 
and  shape  of  the  mountains  which  everywhere  surround 
it,  while  the  clarity  of  its  waters  and  their  colour  add  to 
its  delight  and  make  of  it,  indeed,  such  a  jewel  as  once 
seen  will  be  sought  for  again  and  again.  For  it  is  a  very 
precious  relic  of  the  south,  here  on  the  northern  thres- 
hold, with  all  the  luxuriant  vegetation  of  a  really 
southern  country  given  to  it  by  its  situation,  sheltered 
from  every  wind  but  the  south  wind  and  the  west,  by  the 
greatness  of  its  hills,  which  hold  up  the  still  greater 
mountains. 

In  its  midst,  a  little  nearer  its  southern  shore  than 
its  northern,  stands  up  the  lofty  island  called  Mont'  Isola, 
two  miles  long,  with  the  village  of  Peschiera  Maraglio 
on  its  southern  beach,  the  village  of  Siviano  a  little 

inland  on  the  north. 

,96 


LAGO  D'  ISEO  197 

Iseo  itself,  the  town  at  which,  coming  from  Brescia,  we 
reach  the  lake,  is  a  busy  little  old  walled  place  with  a  fine 
old  fortress  ;  but  the  most  interesting  town  on  the  lake 
is  not  Iseo,  but  Lovere,  at  the  northern  end.  On  the 
v/ay  thither  we  pass  Tavernola,  which,  amid  its  vines,  is 
perhaps  the  loveliest  spot  on  the  lake  with  the  loveliest 
view.  At  Lovere,  on  the  quayside,  you  may  see  the 
true  life  of  this  corner  of  Paradise,  and  find,  as  is  meet 
and  right  in  such  a  place,  pictures  by  Ferramola  and 
Moroni  in  the  church.  But  if  you  come  for  pictures,  an 
absurd  desire  in  so  far  away  a  spot,  you  can  have  your 
fill  of  them  here  at  the  Palazzo  Tadini,  where  you  will 
find  works  by  Civerchio,  Domenico  Morone,  Parmigiano, 
Badile,  Brusasorci  and  Calisto,  and,  what  is  better, 
a  view  of  the  lake  which  is  worth  all  the  troubles  of 
the  journey  from  Brescia  to  see.  Nor  if  you  come  by 
steamer  and  train  should  you  omit  to  return  at  least 
from  Pisogne  by  road,  for  it  is  one  of  the  loveliest  I  know. 

From  Brescia  to  Desenzano,  on  the  Lago  di  Garda, 
is  a  little  farther  than  from  Brescia  to  Iseo,  but  the 
train  service  is  better.  The  Lago  di  Garda,  however, 
is  an  altogether  bigger  affair  than  the  Lago  d'  Iseo. 
Garda  is  formed  by  the  Mincio  as  Iseo  is  by  the  Oglio. 
It  is  the  largest  lake  in  Italy,  though  in  length  it  is 
inferior  to  Como  and  Maggiore.  The  Romans  called 
it  Benacus  and  knew  it  well ;  Virgil  speaks  of  it,  its 
roaring  waves,  in  the  Georgics;  Pliny  has  much  to 
say  of  it,  including  of  course  a  theory  of  its  origin,  and 
he  asserts  roundly  that  the  Mincio  flows  right  through 
it  without  allowing  its  waters  to  mix  with  those  of  the 
lake  ;  while  Catullus,  we  know,  spent  much  of  his  life 
at  Sirmio. 

The  southern  shores  of  the  Lago  di  Garda  are  low 
and  even  marshy,  but  as  one  goes  north  the  hills 
arise,  and  the  northern  arm  of  the  lake  is  enclosed  by 
great  and  grandly  precipitous  mountains,  but  there  we 
are  within  the  Austrian  frontier. 


198  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

Desenzano,  a  tiny  little  place  of  some  four  thousand 
inhabitants,  will  not  keep  the  traveller  long.  Never- 
theless, its  old  Castello  in  the  higher  part  of  the  town 
is  worth  a  visit,  though  it  be  now  merely  a  modern 
barracks,  for  it  is  founded  upon  the  ruins  of  Rome, 
and  owes  its  strength  probably  to  the  defence  made  here 
against  the  Hungarians  in  the  tenth  century.  As  for 
its  churches,  Desenzano  has  them  in  abundance,  but  her 
ancient  Pieve  was  destroyed  in  1480,  and  the  Church  of 
S.  Maria  Maddalena,  which  now  stands  in  its  place,  is  a 
building  of  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  century.  Its  chief 
treasure  is  a  picture  of  the  Last  Supper  ascribed,  and  I 
think  truly,  to  Tiepolo. 

Close  to  Desenzano,  on  a  barren  little  hill,  stands 
Maguzzano,  with  its  old  Benedictine  church  and  monas- 
tery, founded  and  destroyed  in  the  first  years  of  the 
tenth  century,  rebuilt  and  re-established  in  the  middle 
of  the  twelfth,  and  again  in  the  end  of  the  fifteenth 
century.  Certain  vestiges  of  frescoes  remain  from 
that  far-off  time,  as  well  as  a  cross  of  silver-gilt  orna- 
mented with  precious  stones.  The  monastery  of 
Maguzzano  was  the  most  famous  on  the  lake.  In  the 
sixteenth  century  it  had  its  poet,  the  monk  Teofilo 
Folengo,  called  Merlin  Cocai. 

But  neither  Desenzano  nor  Maguzzano  will  keep  us 
long  from  Sirmione,  of  which  Catullus  sang  so  divinely 
in  the  most  perfect  of  his  Carmina  : — 

Poeninsularum,  Sirmio,  insularumquc 
Ocelle,  quascumque  in  liquentibus  stagnis, 
Marique  vasto,  fert  uterque  Neptunus  ! 
Quam  te  libenter,  quamque  laetus,  inviso  ! 
Vix  mi  ipse  credens,  Thyniam  atque  Bithynos 
Liquisse  campos,  et  videre  te  in  tuto. 
O,  quid  solutis  est  beatius  curis  ? 
Cum  meus  onus  reponit,  ac  peregrino 
Labore  fessi  venimus  larem  ad  nostrum, 
Desideratoque  acquiescimus  iecto. 
Hoc  est,  quod  unum  est  pro  laboribus  tantis. 


LAGO  DI  GARDA  199 

Salve,  o  venusta  Sirmio  I  atque  hero  gaude  : 
Gaudete  vosque,  Lydiae  lacus  undae  : 
Ridete,  quidquid  est  domi  cachinnorum. 

Nor  is  Catullus  the  only  poet  who  has  sung  of  this 
place ;  though  one  may  believe  he,  rather  than  Sirmione, 
was  the  cause  for  instance  of  these  perfect  verses  : — 

Row  us  out  from  Desenzano,  to  your  Sirmione  row  ! 
So  they  row'd,  and  there  we  landed — "  O  venusta  Sirmio  !  " 
There  to  me  through  all  the  groves  of  olive  in  the  summer  glow. 
There  beneath  the  Roman  ruin  where  the  purple  flowers  grow. 
Came  that  "  Ave  atque  Vale  "  of  the  Poet's  hopeless  woe, 
Tenderest  of  Roman  poets  nineteen  hundred  years  ago, 
"  Frater  Ave  atque  Vale  " — as  we  wandered  to  and  fro 
Gazing  at  the  Lydian  laughter  of  the  Garda  Lake  below 
Sweet  Catullus's  all-but-island,  olive  silvery  Sirmio  1 

Tennyson  wrote  these  lines  at  Sirmione  in  1880  ;  and 
his  son  tells  us  that  the  poet  liked  the  place  "  the  best 
of  anything  we  had  seen  in  our  tour." 

Sirmione  is  like  a  jewel  set  upon  a  sceptre  :  that 
sceptre  is  the  tiny  low  peninsula  which  is  thrust  far 
out  into  the  lake  from  the  mainland  marsh.  From 
there,  indeed  from  anywhere  almost  on  the  south,  it 
has  not  a  very  striking  appearance,  but  from  the  lake 
it  is  unique  and  beautiful.  Catullus,  as  we  have  seen, 
likens  it  to  an  eye;  another  poet  has  called  it  the 
Queen  of  the  Naiads ;  Carducci  speaks  of  it  as  a  flower 
upon  a  stalk.  Three  hills,  Cor  tine  to  the  south,  Mavino 
in  the  midst,  and  the  Grotte  to  the  north,  make  the  three 
corners  of  the  little  place  separated  by  tiny  valleys.  On 
the  highest  of  the  three — that  is  to  say,  upon  Cortine — 
is  placed  the  Roman  ruin  of  which  Tennyson  speaks. 
Two  gates  of  this  fortress  still  remain,  and  one  of  them 
surely  holds  a  memory  of  Catullus ;  though  legend 
connects  him  rather  with  the  northern  hill,  the  Grotte, 
where  his  villa  is  said  to  have  stood. 

Not  far  from  the  Roman  ruin  upon  Cortine,  the 
queen  of  Desiderius  in  the  eighth  century  founded  a 


200  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

Benedictine  church  and  monastery,  dedicated  to 
S.  Salvatore.  Little,  however,  remains  to  remind  us 
either  of  the  Queen  or  of  the  Benedictines.  But  one  relic 
at  least  remains  to  us  of  that  fierce  time  in  the  Church 
of  S.  Pietro  in  a  lovely  olive-clad  spot  on  Mavino,  for 
it  was  rebuilt  in  the  fourteenth  century,  and  still  retains 
certain  rude  frescoes.  With  the  rise  of  liberty  in  the 
twelfth  century  Sirmione  possessed  herself  of  a  Podesta, 
but  soon  came  under  the  rule  of  the  Scaligers,  who  in 
the  end  of  the  following  century  surrounded  her  with 
walls  and  built  the  Castello,  the  best  preserved  on 
the  whole  lake. 

Sirmione  seems  to  have  been  a  headquarters  for  the 
Patarini  in  the  beginning  of  the  fourteenth  century  ; 
but  here,  as  elsewhere,  they  were  turned  out.  It  is  to 
the  following  century  we  owe  the  Cathedral,  which, 
however,  contains  nothing  of  interest. 

If  we  set  out  from  Sirmione  for  the  tour  of  the  lake  by 
steamer  we  shall  return  to  Desenzano  and  thence  proceed 
to  Salo,  the  Roman  Salodium,  past  the  strange  headland 
of  Manerba,  which  was  once  crowned,  it  is  said,  by  a 
Temple  of  Minerva,  that  in  the  Middle  Ages  became 
not  a  church  but  a  fortress,  and  the  olive-clad  islands  of 
S.  Biagio  and  Lechi. 

Salo  is  lovelier  than  Sirmione,  though  it  has  not  its 
memories.  Memories  of  its  own,  however,  it  possesses 
in  abundance — of  its  long  loyalty  to  Venice,  at  a  great 
cost,  and  of  its  Lords  the  Martinenghi,  whose  palace  is 
there  to-day.  There  remains  also  in  Salo  a  very  beauti- 
ful church,  the  Duomo,  a  Gothic  building  begun  in 
October  7,  1453,  and  dedicated  to  S.  Maria  Annunziata. 
The  western  door  is,  however,  a  fine  thing  by  Sansovino. 
The  interior  consists  of  a  nave  with  aisles  upheld  by 
twelve  pillars,  a  transept  and  choir  with  polygonal  apse. 
Over  the  western  door  is  a  large  Gothic  ancona,  con- 
sisting of  ten  niches,  in  each  of  which  is  a  carved  wooden 
figure  gilded ;  above,  the  Risen  Christ,  with  two  saints 


LAGO  DI  GARDA  20i 

on  either  side,  below,  the  Madonna  and  Child,  with 
four  saints  attendant.  Here,  too,  is  a  fine  picture  by 
Romanino  of  Saints  with  Donor,  and  another  by  Torbido, 
on  the  right  wall  of  the  choir,  of  the  Holy  Family  adoring 
the  Holy  Child.  In  the  cupola  we  see  the  Assumption 
of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  said  to  be  the  work  of  Palma 
Giovane.  In  the  Church  of  S.  Bernardino  are  two 
works  by  Paolo  Farinati  of  Verona,  a  Nativity  in  the 
choir  and  an  Annunciation,  and  a  Romanino,  S. 
Bonaventura  with  Saints  and  Donor. 

Salo  is  the  key  to  and  the  capital  of  that  part  of  the 
shore  of  Garda  known  as  the  Magnifica  Patria  della 
Riviera,  the  favourite  spot  in  which  is  undoubtedly 
Gardone,  where  Germans  most  do  congregate.  Indeed, 
as  far  as  that  goes,  the  whole  lake  is  infested  with 
Teutons,  and  but  for  the  scene  before  our  eyes,  we 
might  well  imagine  ourselves  to  be  in  the  heart  of  the 
Fatherland. 

Gardone  is  pretty  enough  among  its  olives  to  attract 
us,  in  spite  of  the  barbarians,  and  since  there  is  no 
place  on  the  Lake  of  Garda  that  is  not  in  their  occupa- 
tion it  is  useless  to  avoid  it. 

After  Gardone  we  come  to  Maderno,  which  has  not 
much  to  show  us  beyond  its  Piazza  with  the  Venetian 
column  surmounted  by  the  Lion  of  S.  Mark  and  its  old 
Church  of  S.  Andrea,  a  small  basilica  dating  from  the 
tenth  century. 

From  Maderno  we  steam  on  to  Gargnano,  past  Tosco - 
lano,  with  its  noble  walks,  its  cypresses,  sanctuaries 
and  stony  valley,  Valle  delle  Camarate.  Gargnano  is  a 
big  place,  but  there  is  not  much  to  be  seen  there ;  the 
Franciscan  convent,  however,  should  be  visited  for  the 
sake  of  its  delicious  cloister,  and  the  next  place,  Tremo- 
sine,  will  repay  a  brief  visit  by  reason  of  its  magnificent 
rocks  and  cliffs  ;  but  these  are  well  seen  too  from  the 
boat.  Indeed,  the  whole  lake  is  rather  to  be  enjoyed 
than  explored  in  a  search  for  art  treasures ;    its  true 


202  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

treasure  is  itself,  its  landscape  and  waters  and  moun- 
tains and  olive-clad  slopes  and  mighty  cliffs.  You  may 
search  for  a  week,  if  you  want  pictures,  and  find  nothing 
more  honourable  than  the  Madonna  and  Child,  with 
three  saints,  by  Torbido,  at  Limone,  just  beyond  which 
is  the  Austrian  frontier.  Between  Limone  and  Riva 
the  shore  is  magnificently  precipitous,  and  the  winding 
roads  a  joy  to  traverse.  But  Riva  itself,  lovely  as  it  is, 
I  never  found  worth  visiting  save,  indeed,  that  it  affords 
a  better  bed  than  any  of  the  neighbouring  places.  It  is, 
however,  the  key  to  Trent  and  to  much  fine  country  and 
astonishing  sights,  as  that  of  the  Castle  of  Arco,  which 
rises  high  and  sheer  on  its  great  hill  out  of  the  wide  valley 
some  four  miles  from  Riva. 

On  the  return  down  the  eastern  shore  of  the  lake, 
after  leaving  Torbole  crouched  under  its  cliff,  we  pass 
Malcesine,  with  its  beautiful  towered  headland,  and  Torri, 
where  there  remains  something  of  the  vast  castle  the 
Scaligers  built  there  in  1383,  and  then  the  walled  village 
of  Garda  comes  in  sight  as  we  round  the  beautiful 
headland  Punta  di  S.  Vigilio,  where  S.  Michele  built  a 
villa  :  but  Garda  has  nothing  to  show  us,  nothing,  that 
is,  but  one  of  those  great  and  silent  battlefields  which  lie 
deserted  about  Europe,  and  haunt  the  memory  of  those 
who  happen  upon  them,  but  which  the  world  has  for- 
gotten. 

An  hour's  ride  from  Garda  on  a  great  plateau  there 
stretches  out  the  field  of  Rivoli,  where  Napoleon  so 
decisively  defeated  the  Austrians  in  1797.  The  Corsican 
who,  in  1796,  had  been  appointed  to  the  command  of  the 
army  of  Italy  by  the  Directory,  had  found  the  French 
army,  about  36,000  strong,  distributed  between  Nice 
and  Savona,  facing  20,000  Piedmontesi  and  38,000 
Austrians,  He  at  once  attacked  the  centre  of  the 
allied  line,  broke  the  Austrians  on  April  12,  and  the 
Piedmontesi  on  the  following  day,  and  the  day  following 
that  broke  the  Austrians  again.   In  the  following  month, 


:    '. ''  i  !*-»;  ••.'.  !•*•*•- 


LAGO  DI  GARDA  203 

on  the  nth,  at  the  Bridge  of  Lodi,  he  again  defeated 
the  Austrians  and  entered  Milan.  When  in  the  next 
year  Austria  attempted  to  recover  Lombardy,  Napoleon 
broke  her  armies  successively  at  Areola,  Rivoli  and 
Mantua,  and  thus  secured  his  march  into  Austria. 
He  reached  Leoben  in  April  1797,  and  Austria  sued  for 
peace.  So  always  may  the  Latin  sword  flash  victoriously 
in  the  sun  of  these  mountains. 

With  these  thoughts  in  my  head  I  set  out  from  Gar  da, 
and  in  a  little  time  was  in  Peschiera.  I  saw  nothing 
on  the  way  but  an  old  and  beautiful  castle  of  the 
Scaligers  at  Lazise,  a  notable  and  lovely  spot,  for  I 
was  bent  on  another  battlefield  more  glorious  than 
Rivoli,  and  one  in  which  a  worse  barbarian  got  the 
same  desert.     I  mean  the  famous  field  of 

Smooth-sliding  Mincius,  crowned  with  vocall  reeds. 

For  at  Peschiera  the  Mincio  issues  from  Lago  di  Garda, 
and  it  is  there,  as  has  been  thought,  that  Pope  Leo  in 
452  faced  Attila,  and  turned  him  back  from  Rome. 
That  was  one  of  the  great  victories  of  the  world.  The 
barbarian  king  had  upon  his  side  all  material  power,  but 
he  was  a  barbarian ;  Pope  Leo  had  not  a  single  soldier, 
but  he  was  the  soul  of  Europe,  and  what  he  had  achieved 
when  Attila  left  him  was  the  certain  endurance  of 
Europe  and  the  future  of  Christendom.  There,  "  where 
the  river  is  crossed  by  many  wayfarers,"  Leo,  our 
captain,  saw  the  prophecy  of  the  Psalmist  fulfilled  : 

Sicut  deficit  fumus,  deficiant : 

Sicut  fluit  cera  a  facie  ignis. 

Sic  pereant  peccatores  a  facie  Dei. 

And  not  twice  only  but  three  times  was  Italy  to  be 
delivered  beside  this  stream,  and  the  third  time  the 
battle  broke  at  Solferino. 

Now  to  reach  Solferino  from  Peschiera  is  no  great 
matter,  for  the  road  lies  straight  enough  south  and  a 
little  west,  past  the  village  of  the  Madonna  del  Frassine, 


204  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

the  hamlet  of  Pozzolengo  to  Solferino  among  the  little 
hills  eastward  of  Castiglione.  When  Austria  in  the 
summer  of  1859  launched  her  ultimatum  against  little 
Piedmont,  she  suddenly  found  herself  without  a  friend 
in  Europe.  Piedmont,  so  lately  despairing,  laughed 
for  joy:  "This,"  said  Cavour,  when  the  Chamber  rose, 
"This  is  the  last  Piedmontese  Chamber;  the  next  will 
be  that  of  the  kingdom  of  Italy."  It  is  true  that  the 
following  week  might  have  seen  Turin  in  the  hands  of 
the  enemy,  that  defeat  meant  annihilation;  but  that 
is  all  the  Latin  cause  ever  expected  from  the  barbarians 
it  has  faced  these  three  thousand  years  :  it  asked  nothing 
better,  for  Italy  cannot  die. 

The  war  opened  on  April  26,  and  three  days 
later  the  Austrians  began  to  cross  the  Ticino  into 
Piedmont.  Their  business  was  to  crush  the  Pied- 
montese before  the  troops  of  France  arrived.  They 
outnumbered  the  Italians  by  nearly  three  to  one,  and 
their  success  must  have  seemed  certain.  What  pre- 
vented it  was  what  one  always  finds  in  a  barbarian 
army,  lack  of  decision  in  the  leaders.  Italy  held  the 
triangle  between  the  Po  and  the  Tanaro,  and  was  not 
to  be  moved.  Meanwhile,  as  of  old,  across  the  Alpine 
passes,  swiftly  from  Genoa  on  the  old  highways,  France 
poured  the  treasure  of  her  sons,  twenty  thousand  a 
day,  and  blunder  after  blunder  saved  the  Italian  cause, 
till  the  dazzling  game  of  Garibaldi — the  body  of  the 
French  army  having  come  up — opened  the  way  to 
Magenta,  where  the  heroism  of  the  French  guards 
won  at  nightfall,  and  Victor  Emmanuel  proclaimed 
the  annexation  of  Lombardy  to  Piedmont.  Then 
Modena  fled,  and  Parma  and  Austria  stood  within  the 
Quadrilateral  behind  the  Mincio.  In  the  van  of  the 
Italian  advance  upon  this  went  Garibaldi  and  his 
red-shirts,  but  when  the  main  army  was  come  up,  he 
was  sent  off  to  clear  the  Valtelline  and  hold  the  passes. 
France  and  Italy  took  up  a  position  about  Castiglione, 


SOLFERINO  205 

to  the  south-west  of  the  Lago  di  Garda.  The  Austrians, 
hoping  to  cut  off  the  French  divisions  which  were 
advancing  from  Lombardy,  recrossed  the  Mincio  on 
June  23,  and  occupied  the  hills  of  Solferino  and 
S.  Martino.  In  the  dawn  of  S.  John  the  French 
found  the  whole  Austrian  army  before  them,  and  the 
battle  opened.  The  French  took  the  centre  in  front 
of  Solferino,  the  Piedmontese  attacked  the  heights  of 
S.  Martino  on  the  left,  on  the  right  Niel  held  the  plain 
about  Medole.  The  French  advance  on  the  centre 
lasted  all  day  with  terrible  loss,  and  the  heights 
were  not  won  till  evening  :  but  they  were  won.  The 
Piedmontese  carried  S.  Martino  five  times,  and  for 
fourteen  hours  failed  to  turn  the  Austrians  out  of 
Pozzolengo :  but  they  turned  them  out.  To-day  at 
S.  Martino  *'  della  Battaglia "  a  vast  tower  com- 
memorates the  heroism  of  that  fight,  in  which  the 
French  lost  some  12,000  men  killed  and  wounded  and 
the  Piedmontese  loss  was  relatively  nearly  as  heavy. 

From  Solferino  it  is  but  a  step,  and  not  much  more 
from  Castiglione,  to  Medole,  where  Titian's  son  Pom- 
poneo  Orazio  in  1530,  while  still  a  boy,  was  granted  by 
the  Duke  of  Mantua  a  curacy.  Later,  the  painter's 
nephew  held  this  cure,  and  in  his  old  age  Titian  painted 
a  Christ  in  Glory  appearing  to  the  ascended  Virgin  Mary 
in  the  parish  church.  The  picture  remains  there  over 
the  high  altar.  Behind  Our  Lord,  stepping  back  into 
the  shadow,  are  Adam  holding  the  Cross  and  Eve ; 
between  Christ  and  Adam  we  also  see  Abraham  and 
Noah.  This  is  a  work  of  about  1554,  and  worth  any 
trouble  to  see. 

Thence  on  the  road  to  Mantua  we  cross  the  Mincio 
at  Goito,  where  indeed  the  Austrians  crossed  it,  and  so 
through  Marmirolo  and  Porto  Mantovano  through  a 
world  of  mists  come  into  Mantua, 


CHAPTER    XIII 
MANTUA 

OF  Mantua,  forlorn  upon  her  lakes,  where  over  the 
pale  green  waters  the  red  sails  of  the  fishing 
boats  pass,  how  languidly,  under  the  casements,  we  have 
often  dreamed  in  the  winter  over  the  fire  in  England, 
while  turning  the  pages  of  the  Mantuan. 

.  .  .  primus  Idumaeas  referam  tibi,  Mantua,  palmas 
Et  viridi  in  campo  templum  de  marmore  ponam 
Propter  aquam,  tardis  ingens  ubi  flexibus  errat 
Mincius,  et  tenera  praetexit  harundine  ripas. 

Nor  is  she  less  lovely  than  our  dreams  of  her.  A  city 
of  silver,  her  campanili  shining  in  her  ample  sky,  forlorn 
among  her  sedge  and  her  still  lagoons,  she  is  even  to-day 
the  city  of  Virgil : 

Mantua,  vae  miserae  nimium  vicina  Cremonae — 

"  Mantua,  too  near  to  wretched  Cremona  " — but  it  is 

not  as  the  neighbour  of  Cremona  that  an  Englishman 

is  used  to  regard  her,  but  as   the  close  neighbour  of 

Verona,  the  city  to  which  Romeo  came  when  he  was 

banished  after  Tybalt's  murder. 

The  road  by  which   Romeo   came,   though  so  few 

of  us  ever  trouble  to  take  it,  is  still  open  and  still 

to  be  found.     Dickens  knew  it,  and  has  described  it 

so  well  that  it  is  a  pleasure  as  well  as  a  duty  to  recall 

his  words. 

"  Was  the  way  to  Mantua  as  beautiful  (he  writes) 
206 


MANTUA  207 

when  Romeo  was  banished  thither,  I  wonder  ?  Did  it 
wind  through  pasture  land  as  green,  bright  with  the 
same  gleaming  streams,  and  dotted  with  fresh  clumps 
of  graceful  trees  ?  Those  purple  mountains  lay  on  the 
horizon  then  for  certain ;  and  the  dresses  of  these 
peasant  girls,  who  wear  a  great  knobbed  silver  pin 
through  their  hair  behind,  can  hardly  be  much  changed. 
Mantua  itself  must  have  broken  on  him  in  the  prospect, 
with  its  towers  and  walls  and  water,  as  it  does  now.  He 
made  the  same  sharp  twists  and  turns  perhaps  over  the 
rumbling  drawbridges ;  passed  through  the  like  long 
curved  wooden  bridge  ;  and  leaving  the  marshy  water 
behind,  approached  the  rusty  gate  of  stagnant  Mantua." 

It  is  almost  the  same  to-day  if  you  can  be  persuaded  to 
come  on  foot  or  by  carriage.  And  Mantua  remains  one  of 
the  most  forlorn  cities  of  Italy.  Something  of  the  still- 
ness and  silence  of  her  lakes  seems  to  have  fallen  upon 
this  city  of  large  and  level  spaces,  of  sunlight  and  shadow 
and  all  quietness.  Gradually,  imperceptibly,  she  is 
decaying  in  the  damp  of  her  lagoons,  and  is  passing 
from  us  slowly,  softly,  little  by  little,  bit  by  bit,  as  a 
dream  passes.  Here  is  surely  no  place  of  abiding.  Yet 
Mantua  is  very  old.  It  existed  certainly  long  before  the 
establishment  of  the  Gauls  in  Italy,  and  Virgil,  who 
knew  all  its  legends  and  traditions,  insists  that  it  owed  its 
origin  to  the  Etruscans,  which  is  certainly  borne  out  by 
its  name,  derived,  as  is  supposed,  from  the  Etruscan 
divinity  Mantus,  though  Virgil  seems  to  have  derived 
it  from  a  prophetic  nymph  of  the  name  of  Manto. 
However  that  may  be,  it  is  certain  that  Mantua  was  of 
Etruscan  origin,  and,  what  is  more,  retained  its  Etruscan 
character  long  after  the  other  cities  of  Cisalpine  Gaul  had 
lost  it,  by  reason  of  its  position  entrenched  behind  its 
inaccessible  marshes. 

When  the  Gauls  came  into  Italy  Mantua  probably 
found  itself  within  the  power  of  the  Cenomani,  but  it 
seems  to  have  remained  largely  apart,  and  no  mention  of 


208  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY       - 

its  name  is  to  be  found  in  history,  nor  do  we  know  when 
it  passed  under  the  Roman  dominion. 

Mantua,  indeed,  owes  its  fame  under  the  Roman 
Empire  entirely  to  Virgil,  who  was  born  here  ;  he  cele- 
brated the  city  in  several  passages  of  his  works,  and  its 
name  is  familiar  on  this  account  to  many  of  the  later 
Roman  poets. 

With  the  fall  of  the  Empire  Mantua  became  more 
important  on  account  of  its  old  inaccessibility ;  for  with 
the  advent  of  the  barbarians,  barbarian  conditions  were 
restored  and  a  place  was  valued  not  because  it  was 
easy  to  get  at,  but  because  it  could  not  be  reached.  It 
fell,  however,  into  the  hands  of  the  Lombards  under 
Agilulf,  and  became  a  Lombard  city.  With  the 
advent  of  the  Franks  into  Italy,  it  was  governed  by 
the  Counts  of  Canossa.  In  1115,  when  the  house  of 
Canossa  became  extinct  on  the  death  of  the  great 
Matilda,  Mantua  constituted  itself  a  free  commune,  par- 
ticipated in  the  wars  of  the  two  Lombard  Leagues  and 
suffered  the  assaults  of  Ezzelino  da  Romano,  who  threw 
down  its  walls,  which  were  rebuilt  in  125 1. 
•  Like  every  other  city  in  Italy  at  this  time,  Mantua 
was  the  scene  of  violent  internal  struggles  between  the 
nobtli  and  the  popolo  and  the  Guelphs  and  the  Ghi- 
bellines,  till  in  1276  the  Buonacolsi  seized  the  power, 
established  a  lordship,  which  had  lasted,  however,  only 
some  fifty  years  when  in  1328  the  Gonzaga  turned  them 
out. 

This  family  endured  and  succeeded  in  governing 
Mantua  till  1708,  first  with  the  title  of  Capitani,  but 
later  as  Marquises,  and  at  last  as  Dukes. 

The  first  ruler  of  the  house  of  Gonzaga  was  that 
Luigi  who,  leading  the  insurrection  against  Rinaldo 
Buonacolsi,  had  established  himself  in  his  place,  and  who 
in  1329  became  Imperial  Vicar  for  Louis  the  Bavarian. 
In  his  time  Mantua  numbered  some  30,000  inhabitants, 
and  ruled  over  an  extensive  contado.    Guido  Gonzaga, 


fF  ^« 

i      •     .   •    .  ' 

>il'  ^            m        n   ^  "«r  -1 "  ■ 

i  i             1 

i  • 

f^ 


III 


MANTUA  209 

Luigi's  son  and  successor,  was  the  friend  of  Petrarch, 
whom  he  more  than  once  entertained  in  Mantua,  and 
this  was  but  the  beginning  of  a  long  patronage  of  the 
arts  and  a  friendship  for  artists  which  endured  as  long 
as  the  Gonzaga  House.  The  Decameron  was  printed  in 
Mantua  in  1472  ;  about  the  same  time  Alberti  was 
there  at  work  on  S.  Andrea  ;  later  Bembo,  Ariosto  and 
the  father  of  Tasso  were  among  those  who  claimed  the 
friendship  of  the  Gonzaga. 

The  last  Gonzaga  was  Ferdinando,  a  most  inglorious 
prince,  who  fled  to  France  during  the  war  of  the  Spanish 
Succession.  Mantua  then  came  into  Austrian  hands.  The 
town,  always  a  strong  fortress,  was  taken  by  the  French 
in  1797  after  a  siege  of  eight  months,  but  two  years  later 
was  recaptured  by  the  Austrians,  who  held  it  till  1801, 
when  they  were  again  obliged  to  cede  it  to  the  French. 
In  1814  the  Austrian  domination  was  once  more 
established,  and  remained  until  October  3,  1866,  when 
by  the  Peace  of  Vienna,  Mantua,  free  at  last,  was  annexed 
to  the  new  Italian  kingdom. 

The  centre  of  life  in  Mantua  remains,  where  it  has  been 
for  ages,  in  the  Piazza  delle  Erbe,  over  which  frowns  the 
Gothic  Palazzo  della  Ragione  and  the  Torre  dell*  Oro- 
logio.  Opposite,  in  the  little  Piazza  Andrea  Mantegna, 
stands  the  Church  of  S.  Andrea,  the  greatest  church  in 
Mantua,  begun  in  1472  by  Leon  Battista  Alberti,  con- 
tinued a  hundred  years  later  by  Antonio  Viani,  who  built 
the  choir  and  transepts,  and  finally  covered  with  a  dome 
in  1732. 

S.  Andrea  stands  upon  the  site  of  an  oratory  built 
in  804  in  honour  of  that  apostle.  In  10 17,  the  German 
Bishop  Isolfo  built  beside  this  oratory  a  little  monastery 
for  the  Benedictines,  and  in  1046  Beatrice  of  Canossa, 
the  wife  of  Bonifazio  of  Tuscany,  erected  a  fine  church 
upon  the  site  of  the  oratory  in  commemoration  of  the 
birth  of  her  daughter  Matilda.  This  church  suffered 
many  vicissitudes.  In  1244  it  was  taken  by  assault 
14 


210  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

by  a  faction  of  the  citizens  and  ruthlessly  spoiled ;  in  1370 
a  fire  destroyed  part  of  it ;  and  finally,  in  1392,  it  was 
restored ;  and  in  1465  enriched  with  many  works  of  art. 
In  May  1413  the  first  stone  of  the  Campanile  was  laid. 
Then,  in  1472,  by  order  of  Lodovico  Gonzaga,  Leon 
Battista  Alberti  was  set  to  build  here  one  of  the  most 
beautiful  churches  of  the  Renaissance.  From  1472  to 
1494  the  nave  was  built  and  completed.  Then  nothing 
was  done  for  a  hundred  years,  when  in  1597  Viani 
added  the  choir,  the  crypt  and  the  transept.  A  hundred 
years  later,  in  1697,  these  additions  were  vaulted,  and  in 
1732  Juvara  began  the  cupola. 

The  church,  which  is  in  the  form  of  a  Latin  cross  with- 
out aisles,  is  of  good  proportions,  about  300  feet  in  length. 
The  fa9ade  of  white  marble  might  be  that  of  an  ancient 
Temple,  and  the  old  Campanile  of  1413  stands  in  curious 
contrast  to  it. 

Within  the  church  there  is  little  to  detain  us.  In  the 
first  chapel  on  the  north  side  are  sixteenth-century 
frescoes  by  Francesco  Mantegna,  and  here  is  the  tomb 
of  the  great  painter  Andrea  Mantegna,  and  two  of  his 
paintings,  spoilt  by  restoration,  a  Holy  Family  and  a 
Baptism  of  Christ. 

Andrea  Mantegna,  after  "  repeated  and  urgent " 
invitations  from  Lodovico  Gonzaga,  came  to  Mantua 
in  1459,  and  remained  there  till  his  death.  He 
seems  to  have  been  treated  with  the  utmost  kind- 
ness and  consideration,  was  given  a  liberal  salary, 
lodgings  and  perquisites,  but  the  irritable  old  master 
was  never  satisfied,  and  Lodovico  had  constantly  to 
listen  to  complaints  about  money  or  the  rascality  of 
his  tailor  or  the  wickedness  of  the  Mantuans.  The 
following  letter  ^  serves  to  show  the  noble  and  kindly 
attitude  of  the  Marquis  towards  the  old  man : — 
"Andrea,"  he  writes,  *'we  have  received  a  letter  from 

1  Cf.  Julia  Cartwright,  Isabella  d'Este,  1 474-1539  (Murray, 
1903),  vol.  i.  p.  27. 


MANTUA  211 

you  which  it  really  seems  to  us  that  you  need  not  have 
written,  since  we  perfectly  remember  the  promises  we 
made  when  you  entered  our  service,  neither,  so  it  seems 
to  us,  have  we  failed  to  keep  these  promises  or  to  do  our 
utmost  for  you.  But  you  cannot  take  from  us  what 
we  have  not  got,  and  you  yourself  have  seen  that  when 
we  have  had  the  means  (Mantua  was  then  in  the  grip  of 
the  plague  after  a  long  and  costly  war)  we  have  never 
failed  to  do  all  in  our  power  for  you  and  our  other  ser- 
vants, and  that  gladly  and  with  good  will.  It  is  true 
that  since  we  have  not  received  our  usual  revenues 
during  the  last  few  months,  we  have  been  obliged  to 
defer  certain  payments,  such  as  this  which  is  due  to 
you,  but  we  are  seeking  by  every  means  in  our  power 
to  raise  money  to  meet  our  obligations,  even  if  we  are 
forced  to  mortgage  our  own  property,  since  all  our 
jewels  are  already  pawned,  and  you  need  not  fear  but 
that  before  long  your  debt  will  be  paid  gladly  and 
readily.'* 

The  second  chapel  on  this  side  of  S.  Andrea  contains 
a  grievously  injured  picture  by  Lorenzo  Costa  of  the 
Madonna  and  Child  with  Saints. 

On  the  other  side  of  the  church  we  find  the  true  reason 
of  its  foundation.  For  here  is  the  Cappella  di  S.  Longino, 
he  who  pierced  Christ's  side  with  his  spear,  the  disciple 
of  S.  Andrew  who  brought  hither,  as  it  is  said,  the  Holy 
Grail.  The  frescoes,  which  are  said  to  have  been  de- 
signed by  Giulio  Romano,  represent  the  Crucifixion, 
and  the  Finding  of  the  Precious  Blood.  In  the  right 
transept  is  the  tomb  of  Bishop  Giorgio  Andreassi,  by 
Prospero  Clementi,  and  on  the  left  the  tomb  of  Pietro 
Strozzi,  brought  here  from  another  church. 

Returning  into  the  Piazza  delle  Erbe  and  so  into  the 
Piazza  del  Broletto,  we  come  under  the  Torre  della 
Gabbia  into  the  Piazza  Sordello,  better  known  as  the 
Piazza  di  S.  Pietro,  for  here  is  the  Cathedral,  the  Bishop's 
Palace  a^d  the  Palazzo  Ducale. 


212  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

Here  in  the  Piazza  Sordello  are  two  old  Palaces  of 
the  Buonacolsi,  the  Palazzo  Cadenazzi  with  the  Torre 
della  Gabbia,  and  the  Palazzo  Castiglioni  adjoining  the 
eighteenth- century  vescovado. 

The  Torre  della  Gabbia,  like  the  palace  to  which  it 
belongs,  is  a  building  of  the  end  of  the  twelfth  or  be- 
ginning of  the  thirteenth  century.  It  is  so  named  by 
reason  of  a  gabbia  or  cage  which  is  affixed  to  it  near  the 
top.  This,  however,  did  not  originally  belong  to  it, 
but  was  placed  there  by  Guglielmo  Gonzaga  (1549-1587), 
who  had  condemned  prisoners  exposed  in  it.  Close  to 
it  is  the  Torre  dello  Zucchero,  probably  dating  from  the 
twelfth  century,  and  occupying  the  site  of  the  old  imperial 
palace. 

Near  to  the  Torre  della  Gabbia  stands  the  private 
chapel,  Cappella  Buonacolsiana,  of  the  first  capitani  of 
Mantua. 

The  Cathedral  of  SS.  Peter  and  Paul  is  a  curiously 
various  building.  On  the  left  of  the  entrance  is  an 
ancient  Lombard  sarcophagus  of  the  twelfth  century, 
and  this  is  also  the  date  of  the  tower.  The  interior  of 
the  church,  however,  as  we  see,  is  a  remodelling  of  the 
older  building  done  in  1545  by  Bertani,  it  is  said,  from 
designs  by  Giulio  Romano  ;  but  the  Cappella  dell' 
Incoronata  and  the  Cappella  dello  S.  Sacramento  are 
buildings  of  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century,  and 
the  fagade  of  the  church  dates  from  1756.  Nothing 
that  it  possesses  is  of  much  interest.  In  a  chapel  on 
the  left  is  a  picture  of  S.  Margaret  by  Brusasorci,  a  pupil 
of  Caroto,  and  in  the  Chapel  of  the  Blessed  Sacrament 
a  S.  Martin  by  Farinata. 

By  far  the  largest  and  by  far  the  most  interesting 
building  in  the  Piazza  is  the  vast  Reggia  or  Palazzo 
Ducale,  which  stretches  away  from  here  to  the  Lago 
Superiore.  This  enormous  building  was  begun  in  1302 
by  Guido  Buonacolsi,  called  Botticella.  In  1328,  when 
the  Gonzaghi  succeeded  the  Buonacolsi  as  lords,  they 


MANTUA  213 

continued  the  work  on  this  palace.  The  fagade,  with  its 
portal,  is  in  the  Gothic  style,  but  within  we  find  the 
Renaissance,  in  the  splendid  apartments  of  Isabella 
d'  Este,  which  have  largely  escaped  the  vandalism  of 
the  Austrians,  though  several  other  rooms  were  destroyed 
by  them  and  redecorated  for  the  Viceroy  Eugene 
Beauharnais  in  the  style  of  that  miserable  time.  We 
see  what  the  extraordinary  barbarism  of  these  foreigners 
achieved  almost  at  once  on  entering  the  Reggia.  For 
there  on  the  ground-floor  only  the  so-called  Scalcheria 
remains,  with  its  pagan  hunting  scenes  and  grotesques 
by  Giulio  Romano,  of  all  the  Appartamento  della  Grotta 
which  that  extraordinary  craftsman  decorated  for 
Isabella.  Here  "  in  the  fair  Cortile  della  Grotta,  with 
its  slender  marble  columns  and  pavement  of  majolica 
tiles,  each  with  a  separate  device  and  meaning,"  as 
Bembo  describes  it  to  the  Duchess  of  Urbino,^  Isabella 
had  gathered  all  her  treasures  of  sculpture  and  painting. 
Here  were  the  grisailles  of  Mantegna,  as  well  as  his 
Parnassus,  one  of  the  glories  of  the  Louvre  to-day. 
Here  were  the  allegories  of  Correggio,  the  works  of  Costa, 
the  old  court  painter,  a  Holy  Family  of  Giovanni 
Bellini's,  a  Romance  by  Dosso  Dossi,  and  some  wonderful 
Titians,  more  than  one  Holy  Family  and  some  marvel- 
lous portraits.  Here  were  the  antique  sculptures  that 
Isabella  had  collected  with  so  much  pains,  and  the  putto 
which  Michelangelo  had  carved  and  Cesare  Borgia 
had  sent  her.  Nor  was  this  all.  For  in  the  Grotta 
Isabella  had  placed  the  alabaster  organ  which  Castiglione 
had  sent  her  from  Rome,  vases  of  Murano  glass  chosen 
by  Leonardo  from  the  collection  of  Lorenzo  de'  Medici, 
mirrors  of  crystal,  cabinets  of  porphyry  and  lapus  lazuli, 
and  lutes  inlaid  with  ivory,  ebony  and  mother-of-pearl, 
and  viols  by  Lorenzo  da  Pa  via. 

Here,  too,  was  her  library,  the  precious  manuscripts 
we  shall  never  see,  Aldines  tall  and  clean  and  new  from 
^  Cf.  Julia  Cartwright,  op.  cit.  vol.  ii.  p.  377. 


214  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

the  press,  French  and  Spanish  romances,  an  illuminated 
Boccaccio,  the  very  book  of  verses  Petrarch  had  left 
behind  him. 

From  the  Scalcheria  one  is  led  up  a  great  seventeenth- 
century  staircase  to  the  upper  floor,  and  so  through  the 
vast  series  of  state  apartments.  How  mysteriously 
lovely  they  are  in  the  falling  light  of  late  afternoon  ! 
One  feels  like  a  ghost  among  ghosts,  and  expects  at 
every  moment  the  clouded  mirrors  to  give  up  some 
vision  of  the  beauty  they  have  reflected  and  cannot 
altogether  have  lost.  One  passes  almost  stealthily 
along  for  fear  of  intruding  upon  the  dead,  under  the 
glorious  and  fading  paintings  of  Lorenzo  Costa  the 
younger,  and  one  hastens  as  the  guide  whispers  huskily  : 
Here  Eugene  Beauharnais  used  to  sleep,  or  here  Napoleon 
all  weary  flung  himself  down  to  rest.  And  if  this  is  so 
in  all  those  great  shadowy  rooms  with  their  fading 
mirrors,  their  emptiness  and  silence,  it  is  a  feeling  almost 
impossible  to  describe  that  assails  one  in  the  Apparta- 
mento  del  Paradiso,  those  four  little  rooms  that  were 
Isabella's  own,  with  their  early  Renaissance  decoration, 
the  work  of  her  own  time,  still  fit  to  be  seen.  How 
graceful  they  are,  and  since  she  loved  them  and  spoke  of 
them  so  much  and  always  with  a  smile,  how  lovely 
they  appear !  They  were  her  home,  the  most  present 
thing  and  perhaps  the  dearest  in  all  that  long  and  vital 
existence.  "  Nee  spe,  Nee  metu,"  she  can  write  there — 
as  who  should  say,  Here  is  happiness  and  contentment  ; 
and  she  repeats  the  motto  several  times — was  it  for 
reassurance  ?  How  often  did  she  stand,  I  wonder,  in 
that  inner  room  looking  over  the  garden  and  the  lake, 
gay  enough  then,  so  hopeless  now,  and  waiting  there 
perhaps  for  the  cool  evening,  question  herself  of  this 
and  of  that  and  of  her  thoughts  about  it  all.  They  are 
all  gone  into  that  deep  pool  where  she  watched  one 
evening,  when  the  moon  shone,  the  petals  of  her  lilies 
heavy  with  perfume  falling  and  sinking  one  by  one, 


MANTUA  215 

till  one  of  her  dwarfs  called  her  to  play,  and  she  passed 
through  the  Hall  of  the  Mirrors  to  watch  the  masques 
in  the  great  room  where  hung  Mantegna's  cartoons  for 
the  Triumph  of  Julius  Caesar,  and  to  greet  her  guests. 
But  later,  as  we  see,  that  assurance  was  eclipsed,  and  in 
another  room  we  read  the  very  secret  of  the  indecision 
of  her  heart  graven  everywhere,  "  Forse  che  Si,  Forse 
che  No,"  many  times. 

It  is  to  an  earlier  generation  of  Gonzaga  princes  that 
one  is  recalled  in  the  Castello  di  Corte,  the  old  Castle  of 
the  family,  built  for  them  in  1395  by  Bertolino  da 
Novara.  This  strong  fortress  is  reached  generally  from 
the  Reggia,  but  it  is,  though  it  belongs  to  the  earlier 
history  of  the  Gonzaga  House,  always  shown  last. 

Here,  in  what  is  now  the  Archivio,  we  may  see,  in 
the  Camera  degli  Sposi,  a  few  of  Andrea  Mantegna's 
frescoes  which  once  adorned  a  large  part  of  the  Castello. 

That  must  have  been  a  great  day  for  Mantua  when, 
on  Sunday,  August  24,  Francesco  Gonzaga,  the  young 
Cardinal  Legate^  Ludovico's  son,  made  his  solemn 
entry  into  the  city,  bringing  in  his  train  Leon  Battista 
Alberti  the  architect,  Angelo  Poliziano  the  poet,  and  I 
know  not  who  else,  beautiful,  famous  or  full  of  learning. 

So  great  an  event  indeed  did  Ludovico  think  it  that 
he  bade  Mantegna  paint  it  in  fresco  about  his  bed- 
chamber in  the  Castello. 

This  small  and  rather  grim  room  in  a  corner  tower 
of  the  old  fortress  has  by  the  genius  of  Mantegna  been 
formed  into  a  garden  or  bower.  On  one  side  we  see  the 
Duke  of  Wiirtemberg's  ambassador  come  to  ask  for  the 
hand  of  Ludovico's  daughter  Barbara  in  marriage. 
The  Marquis  and  his  wife  are  seated  under  a  loggia 
on  a  terrace,  surrounded  by  their  children  and  grand- 
children, their  retainers,  dwarfs  and  pets. 

On  the  wall  opposite  we  see  the  arrival  of  Cardinal 
Francesco — it  is  the  moment  in  which  his  father  meets 
him — and  with  him  are  his  sons,  Federigo  and  Gian- 


2i6  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

francesco,  and  his  two  little  grandsons,  Sigismondo  and 
Francesco,  the  future  husband  of  Isabella.  In  the 
distance  lies  a  city  on  the  hills — is  it  Rome,  from  which 
the  Cardinal  has  just  come  ? — one  might  think  so,  it  is  so 
noble  and  fair  ;  and  certainly  there  are  Roman  emperors 
on  the  ceiling,  and  in  the  spandrels  all  the  gay  make- 
believe  the  Renaissance  held  so  dear,  of  paganism,  those 
delightful  and  unfortunate  gods !  and  none  more 
charming  than  those  Cupids  who  by  a  trick  of  genius 
seem  to  look  down  on  the  happiness  of  the  Gonzaga 
family  from  a  lofty  terrace  surrounded,  as  is  but  right, 
by  fair  ladies  and  girls  of  silver  and  of  gold. 

It  is  of  another  Isabella  we  think,  in  what  is  the  last 
wonder  of  Mantua,  the  Palazzo  de  Te  (Te  from  Teietto, 
as  it  is  thought),  outside  the  Porta  Pustierla.  This 
palace  is  to  the  Reggia,  to  compare  small  things  with 
great,  what  Versailles  was  to  the  Louvre  or  Hampton 
Court  to  St.  James's,  the  suburban  house  of  Federigo  ii., 
who  built  it  by  the  hands  of  Giulio  Romano  in  1525- 
1535-  It  is  not  Isabella  d'  Este  we  meet  here  on  the 
threshold  and  with  whom  we  may  pass  through  the  vast 
deserted  rooms,  but  Isabella  Boschetti,  the  beautiful 
wife  of  Francesco  Gonzaga  of  Calvisano,  the  beloved 
mistress  of  his  kinsman,  Federigo  11.  of  Mantua.  It  was 
for  her  Federigo  had  built  the  beautiful  Palazzo,  now 
Palazzo  di  Giustizia,  in  the  Via  Poma,  within  the  gates ; 
but  it  is  here  in  his  own  pleasure-house  that  she  seems 
to  live  even  yet  in  Mantua,  not  only  because  Giulio 
Romano  has  painted  her  as  Psyche  among  the  Bacch- 
anals in  the  second  room  of  the  Palace,  but  because  it  is 
she  who  has  most  truly  lived  here  and  informed  the 
whole  rich  and  fantastic  place  with  her  presence,  her 
strange  smile,  her  languid  and  perverse  beauty.  The 
other  Isabella,  Isabella  d'  Este,  the  mother  of  Federigo, 
hated  her,  and  not  without  excuse,  since  in  her  eyes  she 
had  ruined  Federigo* s  life.  This  young  prince  on  his 
return  from  France  in   15 17  had  married   by  proxy 


MANTUA  217 

Maria  Paleologa,  daughter  of  the  Marquis  of  Mon- 
ferrato,  and  when  the  Marquis  died  in  the  following  year 
and  was  succeeded  by  his  son,  a  delicate  boy  of  five, 
it  seemed  possible  that  Federigo  through  his  wife  might 
claim  the  lordship.  All  this  was  doubtless  noted  by  the 
ambitious  lady  at  the  Reggia.  In  1524  it  was  time  for 
Federigo  to  bring  home  his  bride  to  Mantua,  but  to  the 
astonishment  of  all,  and  especially  of  his  mother,  this  is 
just  what  he  declined  to  do.  For  meantime  he  had 
fallen  in  love  with  Isabella  Boschetti,  and  had  made 
her  his  mistress,  a  son  being  born  to  him  in  1520.  In 
1528  a  conspiracy  was  discovered  to  poison  Isabella,  and 
it  was  found  that  her  husband,  Francesco  Gonzaga,  was 
concerned  in  it.  He  fled  to  Mantua,  where  Federigo 
had  him  murdered.  But  the  Marquis  suspected  others 
beside  the  wronged  husband,  and  especially  he  suspected 
his  mother-in-law,  Anne  d'Alengon.  Therefore  he  per- 
suaded the  Pope  to  annul  his  marriage  with  Maria,  and 
succeeded  in  winning  his  reluctant  consent. 

For  this  cause,  then,  Isabella  d*  Este  hated  Isabella 
Boschetti,  and  would  sit  lonely  in  the  Reggia,  while 
Federigo  rode  with  his  mistress  gaily  through  the  city  on 
a  gala  day  surrounded  by  courtiers  and  ladies.  Every- 
where in  the  rooms  of  Isabella  at  the  Reggia  we  see  a 
strange  device  displayed,  a  many-branched  candlestick  ; 
and  this  has  puzzled  so  many  that  I  may  perhaps  note 
here  that  Mrs.  Ady,  who  has  given  such  loving  care  and 
study  to  all  that  concerns  Isabella  d'  Este,  tells  us  that  it 
was  in  her  misery  at  this  time,  face  to  face  with  the  other 
Isabella,  that  she  adopted  it.  Paolo  Giovio  explains 
why.  "  The  device,"  he  writes,  "  Madama  caused  to  be 
painted  in  her  rooms  of  the  Corte  Vecchia  and  on  her 
villa  of  Porto,  and  I  who  was  always  her  loyal  servant 
gave  her  the  motto,  Sufflcit  unum  in  tenebris,  which 
recalls  Virgil's  line,  Unum  pro  mulHs.'* 

How  dreary  is  the  Palazzo  del  Te  now,  and  how  for- 
lorn, the  most  forlorn  thing  in  forlorn  Mantua,  a  palace 


2l8  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

of  faery  that  arose  out  of  the  mists  of  the  lagoons  and 
might  seem  already  to  be  dissolving  into  mere  damp  and 
desolation.  Yet  once  it  seemed  to  be  the  wonder  of  the 
world,  and  that  to  Vasari,  too,  who  had  seen  so  much  of 
what  was  best  worth  seeing  ever37where  in  Italy.  He 
writes  a  page  full  of  curious  enthusiasm  on  what  he 
considers  Giulio  Romano's  painting  in  the  Sala  dei 
Giganti  in  the  Palazzo  del  T^.  But  the  room  which  was 
decorated  by  Rinaldo  Mantovano  is  rather  fantastic  than 
beautiful. 

No.  Mantua  once  the  glorious  is  now  the  forlorn. 
Robbed  as  she  has  been  of  her  pictures,  there  remain 
little  more  than  these  two  palaces,  or  the  two  churches 
that  Albert!  designed,  with  the  fading  frescoes  of  Man- 
tegna  and  Giulio  Romano  to  see.  Only  the  memories 
of  two  women  beautiful  and  rare,  of  the  same  name, 
haunt  us  still  in  her  fantastic  silences,  her  burning  sun- 
shine and  the  awful  damp  of  her  autumn  nights.  Over 
her  gates  seem  to  be  engraven  the  words,  "Ave  atque 
Vale,*'  and  over  her  tomb  those  which  repeated  the  in- 
decision of  a  woman's  soul,  over  and  over  again  to  itself, 
"  Forse  che  Si,  Forse  che  No." 


CHAPTER    XIV 
CREMONA 

THE  way  from  Mantua,  forlorn  upon  her  lakes,  to  the 
beautiful  and  harmonious  city  of  Cremona,  takes 
you  first  through  Curtatone,  on  the  Lago  Superiore, 
out  of  the  Porta  Belfiorc,  where,  on  May  29,  1848,  a 
very  bloody  action  was  fought  between  the  Austrians 
and  the  Tuscan  allies  of  Carlo  Alberto  of  Piedmont.  A 
great  monument  rising  out  of  the  marshy  Seregna 
commemorates  the  noble  deed.  Nor  is  this  the  only 
sanctuary  upon  this  road,  for,  not  much  farther  on, 
about  three  and  a  half  miles  from  Mantua  stands  one  of 
the  most  astonishing  pilgrimage  churches  in  all  Italy. 
S.  Maria  delle  Grazie  was  first  built  in  1399  by  Francesco 
Gonzaga,  who  wished  to  render  thanks  to  the  Madonna 
for  having  freed  the  city  of  Mantua  from  the  plague. 
He  therefore  decided  to  build  this  new  church,  which 
was  completed  and  consecrated  in  1406  upon  this  site, 
anciently  sacred  to  the  Blessed  Virgin.  In  1419  the 
place  was  enlarged  and  became  one  of  the  most  im- 
portant religious  houses  in  Lombardy.  The  whole  place 
is  a  shrine  of  the  Madonna,  full  of  every  sort  of  votive 
offering,  from  cannon-balls  that  fell  harmless  into 
Mantua  in  the  famous  siege  of  1522,  and  which  Federigo 
placed  here,  to  piles  of  crutches,  shoes,  wax  arms  and 
legs,  silver  hearts  and  the  usual  litter  of  a  shrine.  More 
amazing  is  it  that  not  so  much  the  worshipped  as  the 
worshipper    is    represented    here    in    effigy.     For,    on 

coming  into  the  church,  you  find  yourself  in  an  avenue 

219 


220  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

of  figures,  life-size,  and  dressed  in  every  sort  of  costume, 
in  niches  along  the  walls.  These  are  they  whom  the 
Madonna  has  heard  and  answered  here  in  her  Church  of 
the  Graces.  Among  these  favoured  petitioners  we  find 
figures  of  Pope  Pius  ii.,  the  Emperor  Charles  v.  and  the 
pillager  of  Rome,  the  Constable  Bourbon,  whom  Cellini 
swears  he  shot.  Beneath  each  figure  the  story  of  his 
petition  is  told  in  rude  verse,  evidently  of  local  manu- 
facture. Here,  amid  all  this  amazement,  lie  the  princes 
of  the  House  of  Gonzaga  :  and  among  them  the  pattern 
of  courtiers,  Baldassare  Castiglione,  the  author  of  II 
CortegianOy  which  in  those  happier  days  was  as  eagerly 
read  in  the  best  and  most  cultured  society  through- 
out Europe  as  the  French  novel  is  on  the  Continent, 
or  the  Daily  Mail  newspaper  in  England  to-day.  For 
the  tomb  of  this  man,  who  was  literally  the  first  gentle- 
man in  Europe,  Bembo  composed  this  epitaph,  for  the 
body  of  Castiglione  had  been  brought  at  his  own  desire 
all  the  way  from  Toledo,  where  he  died,  in  order  that 
it  might  be  laid  here  in  the  tomb  of  his  young  wife. 

Non  ego  nunc  vivo,  conjux  dulcissima  :  vitam 
Corpore  namque  tuo  fata  meam  abstulerunt ; 

Sed  vitam,  tumulo  cum  tecum  condar  in  isto, 
Jungenturque  tuis  ossibus  ossa  mea. 

Hippolytae  Taurellae,  quae  in  ambiguo  reliquit,  utrum 
pulchrior  an  castior  fuerit.  Primos  juventae  annos  vix.  Bal- 
dassar  Castillion  insatiabiliter  moerens  posuit  ann  Dom.  mdxx, 

S.  Maria  delle  Grazie  is  a  little  off  our  true  road, 
which  lies  along  the  great  highway  to  the  south  of  it. 
Pushing  on  our  way  we  come  first  to  Castellucchio, 
some  three  miles  from  S.  Maria  delle  Grazie,  and  there 
is  the  old  castle  of  Marcaria,  where  we  cross  the  Oglio, 
and  come  presently  to  the  old  republic  of  Bozzolo.  And 
hence  certainly,  if  not  from  Mantua,  I  advise  the  train. 
These  Lombardy  roads,  good  for  a  mile  or  two,  are  far 
too  monotonous  for  the  joy  of  walking  if  they  are  merely 


CREMONA  2«i 

of  the  plain.  There  is,  too,  next  to  nothing  to  be  seen 
on  the  road  between  Mantua  and  Cremona  that  cannot 
be  easily  seen  from  these  cities,  where  it  is  a  pleasure  to 
linger  and  draw  out  the  days.  Whereas,  on  the  road  in 
Lombardy  if  it  rains  you  are  involved  in  a  sea  of  mud 
indescribable,  and  if  the  weather  be  dry  for  long  you 
are  overwhelmed  and  utterly  brought  to  nothing  by 
the  desert  of  dust  which  the  plain  then  becomes. 
The  best  season  for  the  walker  and  automobilist  is  an 
early  but  not  a  rainy  spring,  or  a  late  but  not  a  wet 
autumn.  Even  then  there  are  risks  to  be  run,  but  the 
country  is  worth  them,  for  if  you  be  lucky  the  plain  is 
only  a  vast  garden  full  of  delight,  inexhaustible  and 
lovely,  and  especially  commendable  to  the  automobilist. 

I  can  never  make  up  my  mind  which  is  the  most 
beautiful  city  in  Lombardy,  whether  it  be  Bergamo, 
Mantua  or  Cremona,  but  I  know  that  I  love  Cremona 
best.  Picture  to  yourself  a  city  like  a  pale  rose  growing 
in  the  midst  of  the  great  green  plain,  that,  when  the 
mulberry  flowers,  is  all  a  sea  of  white  blossom.  You 
enter  this  city  and  find  it  silent  but  not  forlorn,  smiling 
though  the  grass  grows  in  its  beautiful  great  Piazza 
and  the  wide  streets  which  the  sun  fills  with  gold ;  the 
great  palaces  are  often  deserted,  the  tall  and  beautiful 
towers  that  here  and  there  rise  to  watch  the  plain  are 
crumbling  and  make  no  sign,  for  Cremona  is  very  old, 
the  oldest  Roman  town  in  all  the  plain,  and,  in  truth, 
here  in  Cisalpine  Gaul  she  seems  in  her  nobility  like  a 
stranger,  some  old  centurion  still  on  guard  amid  the 
dykes  and  the  endless  ways,  in  the  service  of  the  Senate 
and  the  Roman  people. 

Cremona,  as  we  have  seen,^  was  the  first  colony  the 
Romans  established  north  of  the  Po.  It  was  a  fortress 
established  at  the  end  of  the  Gallic  war  in  225  B.C., 
only  seven  years  before  Hannibal  crossed  the  Alps  and 
by  his  astonishing  act  revived  the  Nationalist  hopes, 
1  See  supra. 


222  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

as  it  were,  of  all  the  Gallic  peoples  whom  the  Romans 
had  just,  as  was  thought,  finally  vanquished.  In  the 
year  225  Rome  settled  two  colonies  of  6000  men  each  in 
Cisalpine  Gaul,  one  at  Piacenza  on  the  Italian  side  of  the 
great  river,  the  other,  the  more  adventurous  establish- 
ment, was  made  at  Cremona  to  the  north  of  the  Po : 
they  were  doubtless  very  strong,  and  entrenched  places 
defended  by  art,  and  chosen,  in  the  first  place,  for  their 
natural  strength,  Cremona  lying  not  only  in  a  marsh  but 
in  close  relationship  to  the  Po  and  the  Adda,  which  ran 
into  it  not  six  miles  to  the  westward. 

This  colony  had  not  been  founded  seven  years  when 
Hannibal  crossed  the  Alps  and  persuaded  the  Gauls, 
the  Boians  and  the  Insubrians  to  enter  his  service. 
In  the  war  that  followed,  however,  neither  of  these  two 
fortresses  fell;  they  remained  during  all  those  critical 
years  the  only  hope  of  Rome  north  of  the  Apennines ; 
but  in  the  year  200  B.C.,  when  Lucius  Furius  finally 
defeated  the  Gauls  under  the  walls  of  Cremona,  it  was 
found  that  the  colony  had  suffered  so  severely  that 
in  190  B.C.  a  fresh  body  of  colonists  was  sent  to  her, 
and  six  thousand  new  families  were  divided  between 
Cremona  and  Piacenza. 

From  this  time  till  the  civil  war,  which  followed  upon 
the  death  of  Caesar,  we  know  little  or  nothing  of  Cremona 
beyond  the  fact  that  she  flourished  exceedingly.  In  that 
unhappy  contest  she  had  the  misfortune  to  side  with 
Brutus,  and  it  is  to  this  that  Virgil  alludes  in  the  line 
about  Mantua — 

Mantua  vae  miserae  nimium  vicina  Cremonae. 

For  it  seems  that  some  territory  of  Mantua,  as  well  as 
all  that  of  Cremona,  was  confiscated  after  the  war  and 
assigned  to  the  veterans  of  Augustus.  Cremona,  how- 
ever, continued  to  flourish,  and  it  was  not  till  the  civil 
war  of  69  A.D.  that  her  prosperity  was  seriously  affected. 
In  that  war  Cremona  was  burned  to  the  ground ;  nothing 


CREMONA  223 

seems  to  have  escaped,  and  Vespasian,  when  he  had  estab- 
lished his  power,  was  compelled  by  public  opinion 
throughout  Italy  to  rebuild  the  city ;  which  never  seems, 
however,  to  have  recovered  her  old  prosperity,  though  she 
appears  to  have  remained  a  military  port  of  importance. 

That  Cremona  suffered  with  the  rest  of  the  cities  of 
the  plain  in  the  invasion  of  the  barbarians  in  the  fifth 
century  is  certain,  though  we  have  few  records  of  her 
story  in  that  appalling  misfortune.  We  know  that  Narses 
incorporated  her  with  the  exarchate,  and  then  with  the 
advent  of  the  Lombards  comes  the  first  real  break  in 
her  history.  Cremona  alone  had  been  able  to  resist  the 
assaults  of  Alboin  ;  for  thirty-three  years  she  withstood 
these  barbarians,  till  Agilulf  came  with  a  ponderous 
multitude  furnished  with  towers,  catapults,  engines  and 
battering-rams  against  her,  and  destroyed  her  with  her 
neighbour  Volturnia  in  the  year  603.  Her  people,  such 
as  escaped  this  barbarian  deluge,  hid  themselves,  as  the 
refugees  farther  east  had  done,  in  the  lagoons,  in  the 
islands  and  marshes  and  woods,  and  thus  came  into 
existence  those  little  places  we  know,  Aguanegra, 
Bagnolo,  Le  Isole,  Le  Fosse ;  and  the  territory  of  Cremona, 
abandoned  to  the  barbarians,  became  desolate,  the  Po 
and  the  smaller  rivers  and  streams  overflowed  the  fields 
about  her  and  left  her  silent  in  a  vast  lagoon. 

But  the  position  of  Cremona  forbade  that,  like  Aquileia, 
it  should  be  utterly  abandoned  and  forgotten.  It  was 
presently  repopulated  and  rebuilt,  and  in  the  ninth,  the 
tenth  and  the  eleventh  centuries  it  presented  one  of 
the  first  examples  of  the  rule  of  the  Bishop,  the  revolt 
of  the  merchants  and  the  feudatories,  and  the  rebellion 
of  the  plebs,  which  took  place  in  every  city  of  Lombardy, 
and  which  we  know  as  the  establishment  of  the  Commune. 
This  struggle,  which  began  in  916,  terminated  in  1080, 
when  we  find  the  Commune  established  with  its  magis- 
trates and  consuls,  independent  of  the  Bishops  and  the 
Counts,  with  its  own  army,  its  treasury  and  its  Carroccio. 


aa4  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

There  followed  here,  as  elsewhere,  two  centuries  of  munici- 
pal contests,  while  her  exterior  relations  are  extraordin- 
arily complex.  In  1109,  Cremona  is  allied  with  Lodi 
against  Milan  and  Brescia,  who  sacked  and  burned  her. 
In  1 1 21  she  is  allied  with  Milan,  and  sends  a  contingent 
to  help  the  Milanese  against  Como.  There  followed  the 
bitter  wars  with  Crema,  the  neighbouring  city,  which 
Cremona  wished  to  subjugate  to  her  secular  dominion, 
for  Crema  had  been  within  her  ecclesiastical  rule. 
This  brought  Milan  against  her,  and  Brescia  and  even 
Parma  and  Piacenza.  When  Frederick  Barbarossa  came 
into  Italy  she  sided  with  him  for  her  own  sake,  and  took 
a  great  part  in  the  destruction  of  Crema  in  1160,  and  of 
Milan  in  11 62.  But  she  soon  grew  weary  of  the  tyranny 
of  the  Imperial  vicars  and  joined  the  Lombard  League, 
assisted  to  found  Alessandria  and  to  rebuild  Milan. 

In  1 175  she  elected  her  first  Podesta,  for  a  year  and 
six  months.  The  city  was  governed  by  consuls,  a 
general  council  of  nohili  and  popolo  to  the  number 
of  more  than  a  hundred,  and  a  restricted  and  secret 
consiglio  di  credenza.  It  was  divided  into  quarters,  that 
took  the  names  of  the  gates,^  and  numbered  at  this  time 
some  16,000  combatants. 

It  was  during  this  communal  period,  in  1107,  that  the 
Cathedral  was  built,  and  ten  years  later  the  Baptistery. 
The  Palazzo  Comunale  was  begun  in  1206  and  the 
Torrazzo  in  12 19.  This  heroic  period  was  here,  as  else- 
where, brought  to  an  end  by  the  madness  of  the  factions, 
the  accursed]  quarrel  of  Guelph  and  Ghibelline,  which, 
however,  was  not  so  fiercely  contested  in  Cremona, 
for  Cremona  was  almost  altogether  Ghibelline,  because 

1  These  were  Porta  Postumia,  Porta  Natali,  Porta  Ariberti 
and  Porta  Pertusa  :  each  had  its  own  standard — a  blue  Hon  on  a 
gold  ground,  a  gold  lion  on  a  blue  ground,  a  red  lion  on  a  white 
ground,  and  a  white  lion  on  a  red  ground,  respectively.  Cremona 
grew  very  much  during  the  twelfth  century,  and  a  new  circle  of 
walls  was  built  to  include  the  borgo  in  1 169. 


CREMONA  225 

Milan,  her  arch  enemy,  was  Guelph.  She  favoured  Fred- 
erick II.  with  all  her  heart,  and  in  return  he  showered 
privileges  upon  her,  called  her  his  "  beloved  and  chosen 
city,"  and  used  her  as  his  general  quarters  in  his  Lombard 
wars.  But  when  Frederick  was  dead,  Cremona  fell  into 
the  hands  of  Ezzelino,  and  the  reaction  which  naturally 
followed  left  her  at  the  mercy  of  the  Guelphs.  Against 
this  party  Henry  vii.,  when  he  came  into  Italy,  moved  in 
1310.  Marching  on  Cremona  with  his  whole  army  and 
with  the  Ghibellines  round  about,  he  took  the  city  and 
gave  it  up  to  be  burned  and  sacked,  in  spite  of  the 
prayers  of  three  hundred  citizens  who  went  out  to  meet 
him  at  Paderno  and  prayed  him  to  spare  the  city.  The 
ruin  of  Cremona  was  such  that  when,  in  1322,  Galeazzo 
Visconti  saw  his  chance  and  took  it,  he  had  little  diffi- 
culty in  incorporating  Cremona  in  his  vast  dominions. 

All  roads  in  Cremona  lead  at  last  to  the  centre  of  the 
city,  the  beautiful  Piazza  del  Duomo,  about  which  are 
grouped  the  great  buildings  which  lend  to  Cremona  her 
special  charm  and  character :  the  Cathedral  and 
Baptistery,  the  Torrazzo  and  the  Palazzo  Comunale 
opposite  to  them.  Let  us  begin  with  the  Cathedral, 
which  is  one  of  the  most  remarkable  buildings  in  Lom- 
bardy. 

The  Cathedral  of  S.  Maria  Assunta  in  Cremona,  like 
the  cathedrals  of  Modena,  Parma  and  Piacenza,  with 
which  it  should  be  compared,  is  a  magnificent  and 
austere  basilica  in  the  Lombard  style,  flanked  by  the 
Torrazzo,  the  noblest  tower  in  all  this  country. 

Begun  on  August  15, 1109,  on  which  day  the  Bishop 
Gualtiero  of  Cremona  laid  the  first  stone,  the  Cathedral 
was  scarcely  finished  when  it  was  utterly  ruined  by 
an  earthquake  in  11 17.  This  seems  to  have  given 
pause  to  the  people  of  Cremona,  and  it  is  not  till  May 
1 190  that  we  read  of  the  church  being  consecrated 
with  much  pomp  by  the  Bishop  Sicardo  Casalano. 
This  church  was  undoubtedly  a  pure  basilica,  the 
15 


226  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

nave  being  vaulted,  but  not  the  aisles,  which  were 
added  later  ;  the  northern  about  1288,  the  southern 
later  still ;  the  vaults  we  see  are  of  the  fourteenth 
century.  We  know  nothing  of  the  architects  of  this 
church,  but  the  transepts  are  the  work  of  Giacomo  da 
Camperio  and  Bartolino  Bragerio. 

The  fa9ade  of  the  church,  one  of  the  most  striking 
anywhere  to  be  seen,  was  in  its  origin  of  pure  Lombard 
style,  such  as  we  see  in  one  of  the  intarsias  of  the  choir, 
or  on  medals  conserved  in  the  Museo  Civico.    But  it 
was  divided  into   three   compartments  corresponding 
to  the  three  naves,  the  loggia  to  the  left,  under  the 
Torrazzo,  being  added  in  the  end  of  the  fifteenth  century 
from  the  design  of  Lorenzo  Trotti.     It  was  at  this  time 
that  the  fa9ade  of  the  cathedral  was  largely  modified 
by  Alberto  Severo  di  Carrara,  who,  being  a  Tuscan, 
with  little  understanding  of  the  Lombard  style,  spoilt 
it  as  a  work  in  that  manner,  but  made  of  it  the  pictur- 
esque thing  we  see.    Ten   years  later  his  work  was 
heightened  and  the  pediment  and  frieze  of  fine  statues 
beneath   it  were   added  :    these  statues  represent  S. 
Pietro  Martiro,  S.  Marcellino,  S.  Imerico  and  S.  Omobono. 
The  great  rose  window  of  the  fa9ade,  however,  is  a  fine 
work  of  the  thirteenth  century  by  Giacomo  Porato  da 
Como.     As  we  see  it  then,  the  fagade  has  three  doors : 
the  great  door  in  the  midst  is  the  work  of  Porato  da 
Como.     It  is  furnished  with  a  fine  portico,  the  work  of 
Sebastiano  Nani  in  1560.    This  is  borne  by  two  columns 
resting  on  the  backs  of  two  lions  in  red  Verona  marble, 
which    themselves    lie    upon    great    pedestals,    while 
above  the  porch  are  four  other  little  lions  bearing  the 
Loggia,  in  which,  between  two  saints,  Madonna  stands  on 
a  pedestal,  with  her  child  in  her  arms.    These  statues 
are    also    by    Sebastiano    Nani.    The    frieze    beneath 
these  statues  should  be  especially   noticed.     It  repre- 
sents the  people  at  work  at  home  and  in  the  fields, 
according  to  the  seasons,  and  bears  the  signs  of  the 


CREMONA  227 

zodiac  with  the  emblems  proper  to  them.  In  the 
midst,  exactly  under  the  statue  of  the  Madonna  and 
Child,  the  figure  of  a  bishop  is  carved  in  high  relief, 
by  some  thought  to  be  S.  Barnabas,  to  whom  legend 
assigns  the  foundation  of  the  Church  of  Cremona. 
The  two  porticoes,  or  logge,  on  either  side  the  central 
door,  were  added  in  1497,  and  in  1758  the  statues  of 
saints  upon  their  parapets  were  placed  there. 

Within,  the  church  is  disappointing :  it  is  67  metres 
and  more  in  length,  and  the  breadth  of  the  nave  is 
more  than  30  metres,  while  the  two  transepts  are 
67  metres  long  and  more  than  21  wide  ;  yet  spacious 
as  the  church  is,  it  does  not  look  half  its  size.  The 
nave,  too,  has  been  completely  modernised,  except  in 
the  vault  and  the  triforium.  The  whole  interior  is  a 
vast  field  of  colour  and  gilding,  the  church  being  covered 
with  frescoes  by  the  painters  of  Cremona. 

In  the  nave,  on  the  left,  above  the  arches,  Boccaccio 
Boccaccino  of  Cremona,  a  distinctive  artist,  who  seems 
to  unite  in  himself  much  of  the  prettiness  of  the  later 
Milanese  with  the  colour  sense  of  the  Venetians,  after 
some  provincial  manner  of  his  own,  has  painted  in 
fresco  certain  scenes  from  the  Life  of  the  Blessed 
Virgin,  the  Nativity  of  our  Lord,  the  Circumcision 
and  Christ  among  the  Doctors.  In  the  apse,  too,  we 
find  the  work  of  this  painter  in  a  fresco,  perhaps  the 
best  work  of  his  in  the  church,  of  Christ  and  the 
four  patron  saints  of  Cremona,  S.  Peter  Martyr,  S. 
Marcellino,  S.  Imerico  and  S.  Omobono :  and  again 
an  Annunciation  ;   these  painted  in  1506. 

On  the  right  wall  of  the  nave,  at  the  eastern  end  of  it, 
we  see  the  Last  Supper,  and  scenes  from  the  Passion  of 
our  Lord,  frescoes  by  the  Cremonese  pupil  of  Romanino, 
known  as  Melone.  Romanino  himself  appears  in 
the  frescoes  that  f?)llow :  of  Christ  bound  to  the  pillar 
and  Christ  before  Pilate,  and  we  probably  see  his  hand 
in  the  two  frescoes  just  assigned  to  Melone,  the  Crown- 


228  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

ing  with  Thorns  and  the  Mocking  of  Christ.  The  last 
three  frescoes  here,  with  the  Crucifixion,  are  by  Pordenone, 
as  is  the  Crucifixion  over  the  main  door  and  the  Deposition 
to  one  side  of  it.  On  the  other  side  of  the  main  portal 
is  a  fresco  of  the  Resurrection  by  Bernardo  Gatti, 
painted  in  1529.  To  this  painter  is  due  also  the  famous 
Assumption  over  the  high  altar  ;  it  was  his  last  work, 
and  he  left  it  unfinished  at  his  death,  when  Sammachini 
of  Bologna  completed  it. 

The  intarsia  work  of  the  stalls  of  the  choir,  which 
should  not  be  missed,  is  by  Platina  (1484).  The  two 
pulpits  are  adorned  with  reliefs  of  the  Massacre  of 
the  Innocents,  from  an  old  altar  by  Amadeo. 

Turning  now  to  the  chapels  :  in  the  first  chapel, 
on  the  right,  is  a  picture  of  the  Madonna  and  Child, 
enthroned  between  S.  Dominic  and  S.  Paul,  with 
Donor,  painted  in  1522.  The  Chapel  of  the  Blessed 
Sacrament,  to  the  right  of  the  choir,  is  most  elaborately 
painted  in  fresco  by  Giulio  Campi,  with  pictures  of  the 
Last  Supper,  and  the  Gathering  of  the  Manna,  which 
prefigured  it.  The  similar  chapel  to  the  left  of  the 
choir  is  also  painted  in  fresco  by  this  Cremonese  master, 
with  scenes  from  the  life  of  S.  John  Baptist,  his  Preach- 
ing and  the  Baptism  of  Our  Lord.  In  the  left  transept, 
too,  we  find  a  S.  Michael  from  his  hand,  and  in  the  right 
transept  a  series  of  frescoes,  the  History  of  Esther. 

To  the  south  of  the  Cathedral  stands  the  lofty 
octagonal  baptistery  founded  in  1167.  It  once  had 
three  doors,  but  only  one  remains,  that  on  the  north 
towards  the  Piazza.  This  has  a  fine  porch  supported 
by  columns  resting  on  the  backs  of  lions.  Within,  the 
baptistery  is  bare  and  austere ;  the  very  noble  font, 
hewn  out  of  a  single  block  of  red  Verona  marble,  was 
erected  here  in  1520. 

To  the  north  of  the  Cathedral  stands  the  Archivio, 
and  behind  this  rises  the  great  and  beautiful  Torrazzo, 
the  noblest  tower  in  Lombardy,  and,  as  is  said,  the 


CREMONA  229 

loftiest  in  all  Italy  :  it  rises  to  a  height  of  396  feet. 
It  was  built,  probably,  on  the  site  of  an  earlier  tower 
destroyed  in  the  earthquake  of  11 17,  in  1284.  In  the 
thirteenth  century  it  stood  alone,  and  since  the  sixteenth 
century  it  has  consisted  of  three  stages,  the  first  four- 
sided,  the  second  octagonal,  the  third  again  octagonal, 
covered  by  a  lofty  spire.  Nothing  can  be  more  graceful 
and  lovely  than  these  open  octagons,  superimposed 
the  one  upon  the  other.  An  enormous  clock,  placed 
here  in  1594,  still  tells  the  hours. 

Opposite  the  cathedral,  on  the  other  side  of  the 
Piazza,  stands  the  battlemented  Palazzo  Comunale, 
supported  on  lofty  pointed  arches,  and  built  in  the  first 
years  of  the  thirteenth  century.  Within  is  a  small 
cloister,  and  in  the  upper  floor  the  Pinacoteca. 

Close  by  is  the  Palazzo  dei  Gonfalonieri,  dating  from 
1292. 

All  one's  time  in  Cremona  seems  to  be  spent  in  and 
about  the  Piazza  and  the  Cathedral,  and  rightly  so. 
For  whether  you  come  there  by  day  or  by  night,  at 
dawn  when  the  first  light  catches  the  lovely  lantern  of 
the  Torrazzo,  or  at  evening  when  the  whole  city  resounds 
and  thrills  to  the  ringing  of  the  Ave  Maria,  there  is 
nothing  at  once  as  spacious  and  ordered  and  as  pic- 
turesquely delightful  as  this  square,  in  which  the  whole 
story  of  old  Cremona  seems  to  have  been  gathered  and 
to  live. 

Yet,  if  you  be  a  devotee  of  the  North  Italian  schools 
of  painting,  there  is  plenty  to  see  in  Cremona  beside  the 
Duomo  ;  for  in  her  quiet  way  Cremona  too  had  a  school 
of  painting,  which  if  we  leave  Boccaccino's  works  in  the 
Cathedral  on  one  side,  might  seem  to  consist  so  far  as 
Cremona  is  concerned  of  the  works  of  Giulio  Campi 
(1502-72),  the  pupil  of  Romanino  and  the  disciple  of 
Giulio  Romano,  his  brothers  Antonio  and  Vicenzio  and 
his  cousin  Bernardino.  The  churches  of  Cremona 
abound  in  their  works,  and  a  lazy  day  or  two,  with  the 


230  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

beautiful  Piazza  as  a  kind  of  refuge  and  refreshment, 
may  be  very  happily  spent  among  these  neglected  wild- 
flowers  of  the  Lombard  by-way. 

But  before  proceeding  to  explore  the  churches  of  this 
charming  city,  I  suppose  it  is  one's  duty  to  visit  the 
Museo,  where  the  spoil  of  too  many  of  them  has  been 
gathered,  chiefly  after  all  for  our  delight. 

The  Museo  Civico,  in  the  Via  Ala  Ponzone,  is  found  in 
the  Palazzo  Reale.  There  is  a  fine  altarpiece  of  the 
Madonna  and  Child  enthroned  between  S.  Anthony  and 
S.  Stephen,  painted  in  1518  by  Boccaccio  Boccaccino, 
and  a  host  of  curiosities  beside,  a  few  Ferrarese  pictures, 
notably  a  Madonna  with  S.  Peter  and  S.  Andrew,  a 
late  work  by  Mazzolino,  the  pupil  of  Ercole  Robert i, 
and  two  pictures  of  the  Nativity  by  Bernardo  Parenzano, 
that  eclectic  painter  of  the  last  decades  of  the  fifteenth 
century  who  followed  so  many  masters,  Ercole  Roberti, 
Domenico  Morone,  Mantegna  and  Buonsignori. 

But  it  is  not  here  we  shall  really  find  the  Cremonese. 
We  do  come  upon  them,  however,  feebly  enough,  in  the 
neighbouring  Church  of  S.  Pietro  al  Po,  built  by  Ripari 
in  1549,  where  over  the  third  altar  on  the  right  stands  a 
picture  of  the  Madonna  and  Saints  by  Gian  Francesco 
Bembo,  and  on  the  ceiling  some  rich  if  feeble  decorations 
by  Antonio  Campi  and  his  friends. 

But  the  most  delightful  and  simple  shrine  left  to  us  in 
Cremona  is  to  be  found  in  the  fourteenth- century  Church 
of  S.  Agostino,  a  building  of  rosy  brick  with  a  grass- 
grown  piazza  before  it.  Here,  in  the  first  chapel  on  the 
right,  is  a  Pieta  by  Giulio  Campi,  and  in  the  last  chapel 
but  one  on  the  same  side  of  the  church  a  miracle  indeed, 
a  Madonna-  and  Child  with  S.  James  and  S.  Augustine, 
painted  in  1494  by  Pietro  Perugino.  On  the  throne  is 
inscribed  :  petrus  pervsinvs  pinxit  mcccc  lxxxxiiii. 
Crowe  and  Cavalcaselle  believe  this  picture  to  have  been 
painted  in  Florence,  but  there  is  just  a  chance  that  the 
Umbrian  master  may  have  painted  it  in  Cremona  itself, 


CREMONA  231 

for  in  1494  he  was  in  Venice,  as  we  know,  and  Cremona  is 
but  a  little  way  thence.  The  picture  is  one  of  great 
beauty.  Within  one  of  the  arches  of  the  Palazzo 
Comunale,  as  it  were.  Madonna  sits  enthroned,  perhaps 
before  her  own  beautiful  Cathedral,  her  Divine  Child  in 
her  lap.  On  either  side  stand  S.  James  and  S.  Augustine, 
S.  James  with  a  pen  in  his  hand  and  a  book,  S.  Augustine 
with  crozier  and  mitre.  Nothing  more  surprising  and 
more  welcome  is  to  be  seen  in  all  this  country. 

Opposite  this  divine  vision  from  Italy,  between  the 
third  and  the  fifth  altars  on  the  north  side  of  the  church, 
we  find  two  portraits  of  Francesco  Sforza  and  his  wife, 
Bianca  Maria,  the  natural  daughter  of  the  last  Visconti. 

We  leave  S.  Agostino  with  regret,  and  proceeding  down 
the  Via  Guido  Grandi  we  come  to  the  little  Church  of 
S.  Margherita  that  Giulio  Campi  built  and  painted  about 
1547.  This  church  was  originally  under  the  dedication 
of  S.  Pelagia,  and  in  1542  the  Cremonese  poet  Monsignore 
Girolamo  Vida  was  its  rector.  He  became  Bishop  of 
Alba,  and  in  1547,  wishing  to  rebuild  his  church  in 
Cremona,  employed  Giulio  Campi,  his  fellow-townsman, 
to  carry  out  the  work,  which  he  did,  both  building  the 
church  and  enriching  it  with  frescoes. 

We  find  more  of  the  work  of  this  artist  in  the  Church 
of  S.  Agata  in  the  Piazza  now  named  after  Garibaldi, 
originally  built  in  1077,  and  rebuilt  in  1495,  where  in 
the  choir  we  find  four  large  frescoes  of  the  Martyrdom  of 
S.  Agatha. 

Quite  on  the  other  side  of  the  city,  by  the  Porta  Venezia, 
we  come  upon  Campi' s  work  again  in  the  Church  of 
S.  Abbondio,  with  a  beautiful  tower.  Here,  behind  the 
high  altar,  is  one  of  his  best  pictures,  the  Madonna  and 
Child  with  SS.  Nazaro  and  Celso.  A  later  work,  a  Cruci- 
fixion, is  also  to  be  seen  in  the  neighbouring  Church 
of  S.  Michele. 

But  the  most  interesting  Cremonese  church  is  not 
after  all  to  be  found  in  Cremona,  but  some  two  miles 


232  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

outside  the  Porta  Venezia,  on  the  road  to  Casalmaggiore. 
S.  Sigismondo,  as  we  see  it,  owes  its  existence  to  Francesco 
Sforza.  That  astute  and  extraordinary  adventurer, 
who  always  seems  to  me  to  be  the  most  modern  figure 
in  all  the  fifteenth  century,  began  his  life,  as  we  know,  as 
a  free  lance,  a  soldier  of  fortune,  a  condottiere  with  a 
band  of  brigands  to  sell  to  the  highest  bidder.  By 
hook  and  by  crook  he  gradually  managed  to  possess 
himself  of  the  city  of  Ancona,  of  which  with  the  March  he 
made  himself  lord.  This,  however,  but  whetted  his  appe- 
tite. He  was  a  great  unscrupulous  adventurer,  and  just 
as  to-day  in  England  or  America  we  should  have  found 
him  engaged  in  finance,  so  in  fifteenth-century  Italy 
we  find  him  busy  with  the  nobler  affair  of  arms.  But 
it  was  not  by  arms  alone  that  he  hoped  to  establish 
himself  among  the  lords  of  Italy.  He  had  more  than 
once  rendered  some  service  to  the  Visconti  of  Milan, 
and  when  the  opportunity  offered  again  he  asked  as 
reward  the  hand  of  Bianca  Maria,  Visconti' s  natural 
daughter,  for  he  had  no  legitimate  offspring.  Visconti 
was  at  length  compelled  to  promise  him  Bianca,  but  for 
many  years  he  refused  to  fulfil  his  bargain.  Then,  in 
1441,  Visconti  found  himself  unable  to  make  headway 
against  Venice,  and  generally  threatened  by  the  Floren- 
tines, in  whose  pay  Sforza  then  was.  In  his  hour  of  need 
he  turned  to  the  ablest  man  he  knew,  Francesco  Sforza, 
his  prospective  son-in-law,  and  begged  him  to  act  as 
arbiter  between  Venice  and  himself.  Sforza  agreed, 
but  when  he  drew  up  the  treaty  he  included  a  clause 
which  forced  Visconti  to  give  him  Bianca  Maria.  This 
time  Visconti  could  not  get  out  of  the  bargain,  and 
as  a  marriage  portion  he  bestowed  upon  Bianca 
Cremona  and  Pontremoli.  He  gave  Cremona  because 
he  could  not  hold  it  successfully,  for  it  lay  too  far 
on  the  border-land  of  the  Veneto,  and  its  acquisition  had 
long  been  desired  by  the  Venetians.  He  gave  Pontremoli 
because  it,  too,  was  far  and  upon  the  Florentine  border. 


CREMONA  233 

The  marriage  was  celebrated  upon  October  26,  1441, 
in  the  Church  of  S.  Sigismondo,  outside  the  city  of 
Cremona,  on  the  road  to  Casalmaggiore ;  and  the  bride 
and  bridegroom  made  a  triumphal  entry  into  Cremona, 
where  many  of  the  Marchigiani  had  gathered  at  Sforza's 
orders  to  greet  him  and  his  bride. 

The  little  church  in  which  they  had  been  married 
had  been  founded  by  the  Benedictines  in  990  and  dedi- 
cated to  SS.  Giacomo  and  Filippo.  In  1253  Innocent  iv. 
had  given  it  to  the  Vallombrosans,  who  had  dedi- 
cated it  to  S.  Sigismondo.  Francesco  Sforza,  however, 
was  not  satisfied  that  the  church  which  had  seen  the 
fulfilment  of  so  many  of  his  ambitions  should  remain 
the  magnificent  place  it  was.  Therefore  in  1463,  when 
through  his  marriage  he  had  actually  possessed  himself 
of  the  Visconti  lordship,  he  pulled  down  the  little 
church  and  built  in  its  place  by  the  hands  of  Barto- 
lommeo  Gazza  the  rich  and  sumptuous  temple  we  see. 
He  also  rebuilt  the  monastery. 

As  we  see  it  to-day  the  church  of  S.  Sigismondo  is  the 
shrine  of  Giulio  Campi,  just  as  the  Arena  Chapel  at 
Padua  is  of  Giotto.  It  is  covered  with  his  frescoes,  and 
on  the  high  altar  stands  one  of  his  most  precious  works, 
in  which  we  see  the  Madonna  appearing  to  Francesco 
Sforza  and  his  bride.  Nor  is  this  all,  for  around  the 
western  window  he  has  painted  the  Annunciation,  and 
indeed  in  nave  and  transept  he  has  left  us  a  rich  legacy, 
in  which  we  see  the  work  of  himself,  his  brothers  and 
his  cousin  Bernardino. 

It  is  impossible  to  leave  Cremona  without  reminding 
oneself  what  an  harmonious  and  musical  city  it  is; 
that  it  is  the  birthplace  of  the  Amati,  the  great  Stradi- 
varius  and  of  Guarnerius,  who  here  made  their  violins, 
the  necks  of  which  were  like  the  necks  of  rare  and 
lovely  birds,  and  which  even  to-day  are  softer  and 
sweeter  than  any  other  instruments. 


CHAPTER  XV 
CREMA  AND  LODI 

WHEN  one  does  pluck  up  courage  to  leave  Cremona 
at  last,  to  forgo  quietness  for  the  noise  of  the 
railway,  and  the  sunshine  and  delight  of  that  exquisite 
town  for  the  chances  of  travel,  it  must,  of  course,  be 
for  Crema  that  one  sets  out — Crema  that  has  almost 
no  history  worth  knowing,  but  that  remains  one  of  the 
dearest  and  most  hidden  places  in  all  this  wide  and 
beautiful  Lombard  country. 

I  often  wonder  now  I  am  set  down  to  write 
about  Lombardy,  as  I  did  when  I  made  my  way 
along  the  Lombard  roads,  whether  we  who  go  our 
ways  up  and  down  from  city  to  city,  from  church  to 
church,  from  one  building  to  another,  ever  really  are 
aware  how  beautiful  a  country  Lombardy  is  under  its 
wide,  incomparable  sky,  half  lost  in  its  own  vastness. 
It  is  easy  to  see  Tuscany  ;  the  Umbrian  valleys  draw 
you  on,  and  from  day  to  day  in  the  Veneto  you  pass 
and  repass  from  the  plain  to  the  mountains,  from  the 
mountains  to  the  plain.  But  Lombardy  is  hard  to  see, 
difficult  to  find  out  and  impossible  to  possess  oneself 
of,  without  much  fatigue,  weariness,  mud  and  dust.  The 
roads  are  all  endless  there,  the  cities  always  far  away, 
and  often  when  they  are  but  market  towns  worse  than 
nothing — places  from  which  one  hurries  away  in  the  first 
train  that  comes  by,  places  that  one  tries  to  forget. 
Such  are  many  of  the  towns  that  hold,  it  may  be,  just  one 

thing  one  longs  to  see,  and  because  they  are  many  and 

234 


CREMA  AND  LODI  235 

come  to  loom  large  in  the  memory,  more  than  half  of 
our  pleasure  in  Lombardy  is  ruined  by  them.  But  the 
country :  I  think,  indeed,  no  one  ever  sees  that  here  in 
the  great  plain.  It  is  too  big,  too  vague,  too  empty  to 
allure  us  from  the  security  and  curiosity  of  the  towns  ; 
yet  it  is  a  background  full  of  peace  to  all  those  peaceful 
and  lovely  places :  Cremona  in  the  green  meadows, 
Mantua  amid  the  quietness  of  the  lagoons,  and  last  but 
not  least  Crema,  where  the  white  oxen  gather  in  the 
streets  at  evening  drawing  their  great  creaking  carts 
laden  with  all  the  wealth  of  the  purple  vintage  that 
shall  presently,  by  the  winepress,  stain  the  streets  and 
perfume  the  whole  city. 

Crema  is  a  little  place,  no  one  goes  there,  yet  it  is  easy 
to  reach  from  Cremona  by  train  to  and  fro  in  a  day  if  you 
will,  and  it  is  very  well  worth  seeing.  Besides,  if  you 
have  the  heart,  you  might  do  many  worse  things  than 
walk  thither,  you  might  give  up  going  at  all,  and 
lest  you  should  indeed  do  that,  I  state  here  once  and  for 
all :  it  is  easy  to  go  to  Crema  and  back  from  Cremona  by 
train  in  one  day. 

There  is  no  church  more  beautiful  in  all  Lombardy 
than  the  Cathedral  of  Crema,  and  it  has  a  campanile 
crowned  by  a  lantern  that  is  as  graceful  and  as  airy 
but  not  as  tall  nor  as  strong  as  the  Torrazzo  of  Cremona. 
Yet  it  is  a  thing  to  love  and  to  be  proud  of,  and  the 
people  of  Crema  justly  hold  it  high  in  their  affections, 
for  it  is  not  only  beautiful  and  full  of  daring,  it  is  also 
unique :  there  is  nothing  quite  like  it  anywhere  else  in 
the  world. 

As  much  in  the  way  of  originality  cannot  be  said  for 
the  beautiful  facade  of  the  Cathedral  of  Crema.  Fine 
as  it  is,  it  must  be  confessed  that  it  is  very  like  all  the 
other  Lombard  fagades  we  have  seen  :  it  has  nobility, 
grace  even,  and  some  splendour,  but  it  is  unmistakably 
of  the  family,  and  especially  by  this  should  we  know  and 
recognise  it,  for  it  has  no  relation  at  all  to  the  church 


236  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

which  it  suddenly  and  as  it  were  by  brute  force  closes 
and  ends.  Just  where  it  might  have  been  astonishingly 
original,  so  that  its  fame  would  have  been  blazed  in 
every  guide-book  of  the  world,  it  has  with  a  certain 
becoming  humility  followed  the  tradition — alas !  a  bad 
one — and  taken  after  the  family. 

Within,  however,  the  Cathedral  has  something  to 
show  us,  namely,  a  picture  of  S.  Sebastian  between 
S.  Christopher  and  S.  Roch,  painted  in  1518  by 
Civerchio,  the  founder,  with  Ferramola,  of  the  Brescian 
school :   this  over  the  second  altar  on  the  north. 

There  is  one  other  church  in  Crema  that  has  something 
to  offer  us  in  the  way  of  painting :  this  is  SS.  Trinita, 
where  over  the  third  altar  on  the  north  is  a  Madonna 
and  Child  enthroned  between  S.  Peter,  S.  Paul,  S. 
Sebastian  and  S.  Roch,  painted  in  1535  by  Calisto 
Piazza  da  Lodi,  the  follower  of  Romanino. 

If  there  is  little  for  the  mere  tourist  in  the  streets  of 
Crema — and  I  have  said  nothing  of  the  fa9ade  of  S. 
Maria  Maddalena,  which  is  of  the  early  Renaissance,  and 
now  fronts  a  theatre — there  is  undoubtedly  a  church 
without  her  walls  that  will  astonish  him  :  I  mean  the 
round  church  of  S.  Maria  della  Croce,  which  is  rather 
polygonal  than  round  after  all,  and  built  of  brick  in  the 
true  Renaissance  manner,  and  reminds  one  of  nothing 
so  much  as  of  that  heavenly  building  Raphael  saw  in 
the  background  of  his  picture  in  the  Brera.  It  is  a 
work  by  Giovanni  Battagio  of  Lodi,  a  disciple  of 
Bramante's.  I  say  it  reminds  one  of  nothing  so  much  as 
of  Raphael's  temple  there  in  his  picture  of  the  Sposalizio. 
Well,  it  has  just  the  tranquillity,  the  lightness,  and  the 
graceful  dignity  of  that  visionary  building,  and  it 
stands  under  its  clustered  domes  and  cupolas  really 
like  something  in  a  dream,  something  not  made  with 
hands,  that  would  actually  be  impossible  in  any  other 
land  but  this.  And  if  it  be  true,  as  Pater  has  told  us, 
that  "  all  art  aspires  towards  the  condition  of  music," 


CREMA  AND  LODI  237 

here,  I  think,  for  once  it  has  been  completely  successful. 
For  it  is  as  though  suddenly,  as  we  listened,  some 
Magnificat  by  Palestrina  or  Marenzio  had  taken  visible 
shape  and  "  materialised  itself,"  as  we  say,  before  our 
eyes  in  a  temple  not  made  with  hands,  in  which  it 
might  please  the  Queen  of  the  angels  a  little  to  abide 
our  coming. 

From  Crema,  it  is  not  far — there  is  a  tramway  beside 
the  road  all  the  way — to  Lodi,  where  it  is  very  good 
to  come  if  only  to  see  the  beautiful  church  of  the 
Incoronata,  another  building  by  Giovanni  Battagio, 
who  was  born  here. 

The  city  known  as  Lodi  to-day,  however,  and  set 
on  the  right  bank  of  the  Adda,  is  not  the  ancient  city 
which  the  Romans  called  Laus  Pompeia,  perhaps  after 
Pompeius  Strabo,  who  conferred  the  rights  of  Latin 
citizens  upon  the  municipalities  of  Transpadane  Gaul. 
The  ancient  town  was  set  in  the  plain  some  five  miles  to 
the  west  of  Lodi,  and  is  known — for  there  is  there  to-day 
a  considerable  village — as  Lodi  Vecchio. 

Lodi  Vecchio,  which  is  not  worth  a  visit,  has  a  very 
strange  and  tragic  history.  A  city  of  the  Gauls,  situated 
in  Roman  times  sixteen  miles  south-east  of  Milan,  on 
the  high  road  between  Milan  and  Placentia,  it  had, 
according  to  Pliny,  been  a  stronghold  of  the  Boii.  It 
figures  not  at  all  in  Roman  history,  we  know  nothing  of 
it  save  that  it  existed,  but  in  the  end  of  the  Dark  Ages 
Lodi  had  become  important,  and  by  the  end  of  the 
tenth  century  an  independent  republic. 

Now  in  those  days,  as  everj^here  in  Italy,  but 
nowhere  so  fiercely  and  so  persistently  as  in  this  Cis- 
alpine plain,  the  cities  fought  for  land  and  power  and 
wealth  and  the  harvest,  the  one  with  the  other,  and  the 
nearer  neighbour  the  greater  the  foe.  The  two  captains 
of  this  formless  and  confused  and  continual  civil  war 
were  Milan  and  Pavia,  for  they  were  the  two  strongest, 


238  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

and  therefore,  and  because  they  were  close  neighbours, 
they  were  deadly  foes.  They  did  not  directly  attack 
one  another — at  least,  in  the  beginning  they  did  not, 
for  they  would  not  risk  everything  in  a  single  throw; 
but  they  each  warred  against  their  feebler  neighbours, 
so  that  in  a  brief  space  the  whole  plain  was  divided 
into  two  leagues  or  parties  headed  by  these  two  cities. 
Cremona,  which  was  at  this  time  the  third  city  in  the 
plain,  was  ever  the  enemy  of  Milan ;  it  desired  greatly 
to  conquer  Crema,  and  therefore  Crema  held  to  Milan, 
yet  in  the  year  iioo  Crema  fell.  Milan  then  looking 
around  assailed  Lodi  and  Novara;  and  Pavia,  not  to 
be  outdone,  attacked  Tortona.  The  thing  was  a  sort  of 
game,  but  a  bloody  one,  in  which  the  weak,  unless  they 
could  win  help,  were  without  hope,  and  therefore  each 
terrified  city  attached  itself  to  that  great  city  of  which 
it  had  least  apprehension :  Crema  and  Tortona  looked 
to  Milan  ;  Pavia  and  Cremona  joined  hands,  and  Lodi 
cried  aloud  to  them  for  help,  as  did  Novara.  Brescia, 
however,  because  she  was  near  to  Cremona,  looked  to 
Milan,  as  did  Parma  and  Modena,  while  Piacenza  and 
Reggio  stood  with  Pavia. 

It  is  impossible  for  us  to  conceive  of  the  state  of 
things  which  followed.  A  kind  of  border  war,  private 
war  and  piracy  ensued,  in  which  no  man's  property  or 
life  was  safe  ;  nor  could  any  man  be  sure  of  the  harvest, 
or  indeed  of  anything  but  danger.  At  any  moment 
the  great  bell  might  ring  in  the  Tower,  and  all  the 
able-bodied  citizens  would  gather  round  the  carroccio 
and  go  forth  to  battle.  If  you  fell  you  were  dead,  but 
God  help  your  wife  and  your  children  ;  if  you  were 
taken  prisoner,  you  were  subject  to  the  most  amazing 
insults,  as  that  which  the  Milanese  in  1108  inflicted 
upon  certain  of  Pavia  whom  they  had  come  by  in 
battle.  These  they  first  stripped  naked,  and  when 
they  had  brought  them  into  the  Piazza,  they  affixed 
lighted  torches  to  the  least  noble  part  of  their  persons, 


CREMA  AND  LODI  239 

and  hooted  them  out  of  the  gates.  Every  war  did  not, 
however,  end  in  so  harmlessly  farcical  a  fashion.  In 
the  year  1107  the  league  against  Milan  was  less  united 
than  it  should  have  been,  and  Milan,  seeing  her  chance, 
attacked  Lodi,  her  nearest  foe.  This  war  lasted  for 
four  years.  Lodi  was  sometimes  victorious,  but  she 
had  not  the  population  of  Milan,  and  when  her  harvests 
were  taken  or  burnt  year  after  year,  in  spite  of  assistance 
sent  by  Cremona  and  Pavia,  Lodi  began  to  despair,  and 
in  this  despair  was  taken  by  assault  in  the  year  mi 
and  utterly  destroyed,  the  houses  levelled  with  the 
ground,  the  walls  thrown  down  :  Milan  left  not  one 
stone  upon  another.  As  for  the  Lodesi,  they  were  all 
reduced  to  a  kind  of  serfdom  and  distributed  among 
six  villages,  where  they  were  kept  in  order. 

The  fate  which  overtook  Lodi  stands  alone  in  the 
history  of  Lombardy,  as  does  her  resurrection. 

In  the  year  ii54,Frederick  Barbarossa,  Emperor-Elect, 
descended  into  Italy,  ostensibly  to  put  an  end  to  the 
appalling  state  of  anarchy  and  civil  war  which  obtained 
there  and  which  had  already  cost  Lodi  her  life.  In  the 
previous  year,  1 153,  at  Constance,  where  he  had  presided 
at  a  diet, two  citizens  of  Lodi  had  made  their  way  through 
the  throng  of  princes  and  nobles  and  had  cast  themselves 
weeping  at  his  feet,  beseeching  him  to  release  them 
from  the  tyranny  of  the  people  of  Milan.  They  bore, 
publicly  at  least,  no  commission  from  their  fellows,  but 
Frederick  immediately  sent  an  officer  to  Milan  to  bid 
the  Milanese  to  renounce  their  jurisdiction  over  the 
Lodesi  and  to  render  to  them  their  ancient  lands.  **  The 
Imperial  messenger,"  we  are  told,  "  was  sent  first  to  the 
Lodesi  to  acquaint  them  with  the  nature  of  his  mission. 
In  vain  they  regretted  the  inconsiderate  rashness  of  the 
unauthorised  appeal  that  had  been  made  ;  they  dreaded 
lest  the  Milanese  should  reply  to  the  mandate  of  the 
Emperor  by  burning  their  houses  and  crops ;  they 
pointed  out  that  it  would  be  at  least  a  year  before  the 


240  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

Imperial  troops  could  arrive  to  protect  them ;  already 
they  had  endured  servitude  for  two  generations.  ..." 
In  spite  of  their  protests,  the  envoy  went  to  Milan. 
The  consuls  received  him  in  a  full  meeting  of  the  people  ; 
but  the  crowd,  beside  itself  with  passion,  snatched  the 
missive  from  the  hands  of  him  who  read  it  and  trod  it 
underfoot.  The  Emperor  was  defied,  and  it  was  only 
with  difficulty  his  messenger  escaped  with  his  life.  The 
Lodesi  are  said  to  have  taken  to  the  woods ;  but  in  a 
calmer  moment  the  Milanese  themselves  grew  afraid, 
and  with  the  other  cities  of  the  plain  sent  delegates  with 
the  customary  donation  to  the  new  Emperor.  Pavia  and 
Cremona,  however,  were  not  slow  to  accuse  her,  nor  she, 
as  answering  them,  to  invade  their  territories.  It 
was  thus  into  a  veritable  pandemonium  that  Frederick 
descended  when  he  entered  Cisalpine  Gaul  in  1154. 

He  came  down  the  Adige  valley  to  Roncaglia.  There 
in  comitia  he  decided  what  to  do — namely,  to  support 
the  weaker  of  the  two  factions  in  Lombardy :  that  is  to 
say,  the  faction  led  by  Pavia,  to  which  Lodi  belonged. 

The  first  town  to  feel  the  weight  of  his  arms  was 
Tortona.  He  took  it  after  a  brave  defence  of  sixty- two 
days,  and  when  its  people  had  departed  burnt  it  to  the 
ground.  He  then  marched  to  Pavia,  where  he  received 
the  Iron  Crown,  and  so  to  Rome  to  receive  the  Golden 
Crown  from  the  Pope,  and  returned  over  the  Alps, 
having  achieved  nothing  but  a  threat. 

Meanwhile  Milan,  knowing  what  to  expect,  tried,  in 
the  year  1158,  to  make  friends  with  the  Lodesi ;  but  the 
Lodesi  would  not,  for  they  knew  that  Frederick  was 
on  his  way  back  into  Italy.  At  or  near  Brescia  he  held 
diet,  and  there  forbade  private  war  and  summoned  the 
Milanese  deputies  to  come  before  him.  They  came,  and 
tried  to  bribe  him  with  money  and  to  befool  him  with 
excuses.  He  refused  the  bribe  and  would  not  hear  the 
excuses.  War  was  declared  upon  Milan.  But  first 
Frederick  crossed  the  Adda  and  laid  the  foundation- 


CREMA  AND  LODI  241 

stone  of  the  new  city  of  Lodi.  The  village  chosen  for 
this  honour  was  known  as  Monteghezzone.  What 
recommended  it  was  its  situation  on  the  river,  well 
defended,  and,  as  Frederick  believed  it  to  be,  the  key  to 
Lombardy.  This  new  city  thus  founded  is,  of  course, 
the  Lodi  we  know. 

There  is  not  perhaps  very  much  to  see  in  Lodi — a  few 
churches,  and  here  and  there  a  picture — but  a  spot  so 
famous  is  well  worth  a  visit ;  nor  indeed  is  it  without 
interest  for  us  to-day,  and  for  this  cause  that  it  was  at 
the  passage  of  the  Bridge  of  Lodi,  on  May  10,  1796,  that 
Napoleon  led  his  grenadiers  not  without  heroism.  But 
now  let  us  see  what  this  little  town  so  strangely  famous 
has  to  offer  us. 

And  first  there  is  the  Duomo.  This,  so  far  as  the 
exterior  goes,  is  a  building  in  the  Lombard  style,  probably 
modelled  on  the  mother  church  of  old  Lodi.  The  porch 
is  fine  in  the  usual  Lombard  manner,  borne  by  pillars 
resting  upon  two  lions.  Within  the  church  has  been  quite 
modernised ;  but  it  contains  certainly  a  relic  from  the 
mother  city  in  a  relief  of  the  Last  Supper,  which  is 
probably  older  than  the  advent  of  the  Lombards  into 
Italy.  Here,  too,  is  a  polyptych  by  Calisto  Piazza  da 
Lodi,  painted  in  1529. 

No  one  who  visits  Lodi  should  omit  to  visit  the 
Church  of  S.  Francesco,  a  Gothic  building  of  the  fourteenth 
century,  for  it  has  some  old  frescoes;  but  the  really 
great  sight  in  Lodi  is,  as  I  have  already  suggested,  the 
Church  of  the  Incoronata,  a  work  of  Giovanni  Battagio, 
who  built  the  Sanctuary  of  the  Madonna  outside  Crema. 
The  Incoronata  was  begun  in  1476.  It  is  an  octagon 
in  form,  and  though  not,  I  think,  so  fine  as  the  Sanctuary 
outside  Crema,  is  an  exquisite  and  delightful  thing. 
It  is,  too,  very  charmingly  decorated  and  has  a  beautiful 
carved  cantoria,  while  Calisto  Piazza  da  Lodi  has 
covered  it  with  his  paintings.  This  follower  of  Romanino 
has  left  us  over  the  entrance  door  an  Adoration  of  the 
16 


242  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

Magi.  In  the  chapel  of  S.  John  Baptist  are  four  scenes 
from  the  life  of  that  saint — the  Preaching,  the  Baptism 
of  Christ,  the  Feast  of  Herod  and  the  Decapitation 
of  S.  John.  In  the  chapel  of  the  Crucifixion  are  five 
scenes  from  the  Way  of  the  Cross — Christ  taken  Captive, 
the  Flagellation,  the  Way  to  Calvary,  the  Nailing  to  the 
Cross  and  the  Crucifixion.  In  the  chapel  of  S.  Paul  we 
have  the  Conversion  of  S.  Paul,  which  is  his  in  part, 
and  in  the  chapel  of  S.  Lorenzo  a  fresco  of  the  marriage 
of  S.  Catherine  that  is  doubtfully  his.  Other  works,  too, 
are  to  be  seen  here. 

But  when  all  is  said  and  done,Lodi  is  chiefly  interesting 
to  us  for  its  curious  foundation  and  for  that  terrible 
fight  on  May  lo,  1796,  in  which  Napoleon  bore  so  fine 
a  part,  in  which  he  utterly  defeated  the  Austrians,  and 
was  able  therefore  five  days  later  to  enter  Milan.  Surely 
Lodi,  if  she  was  not  avenged  in  11 62,  was  avenged 
then! 


CHAPTER    XVI 
PIACENZA 

IT  is  but  twenty- two  miles,  less  than  an  hour's 
journey  in  the  train  from  Lodi,  through  Casale 
Pusterlengo  and  Codogno,  and  so  across  the  Po  for  the 
first  time  in  our  journey,  into  Piacenza,  an  old  and  a 
famous  city  of  the  Romans.  Even  though  one  comes  by 
train  that  crossing  of  the  Po  impresses  itself  upon  the 
mind,  while  by  road  the  passage  is  never  to  be  forgotten, 
for  you  make  it  by  a  bridge  of  boats,  with  the  swirling, 
cruel  river  within  a  few  feet  of  you,  and  horribly  strong 
and  overwhelming.  And  it  is  well  that  this  should  be 
so  ;  for,  by  crossing  the  Po,  we  leave  Lombardy  proper 
and  come  into  that  part  of  the  new  province  of  Emilia 
which,  since  the  sixteenth  century,  has  been  known  as  the 
Duchy  of  Parma,  over  which  ruled  the  House  of  Farnese. 
I  say  that  the  province  is  now  known  as  Emilia,  nor 
is  this  name  in  any  sense  a  new  one  ;  for  all  this  country 
south  of  the  Po,  between  Piacenza  where  it  ended  and 
Rimini  where  it  began,  was  traversed  and  fed  from  the 
end  of  the  Second  Punic  War  by  the  great  Roman  high- 
way, the  Via  ^Emilia,  so  called  after  M.  ^milius,  the 
consul  who  constructed  it.  Piacenza,  or  Placentia, 
as  the  Romans  called  it,  was  the  true  terminus  of  this 
road,  and  the  true  nodal  point  of  all  this  country  from 
which  various  roads  departed  again,  north,  south,  east 
and  west,  crossing  Cisalpine  Gaul  with  highways.  Why 
was   this  ?    To   answer    that    question    we   must   say 

something  of  the  history  of  the  city. 

243 


244  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

No  traveller,  no  observant  traveller  at  any  rate,  can 
come  to  Piacenza  to-day  without  being  impressed  by  two 
things  about  it :  first,  that  it  is  situated  in  an  open  plain, 
sandy  and  liable  to  flood,  and  open  to  all  the  winds  of 
heaven  ;  second,  that  strategically  its  position  on  the 
right  bank  of  the  Po,  with  two  great  loops  of  that  river 
thrust  forward  on  either  side  before  it,  and  flanked  on 
the  west  by  the  Trebbia  and  on  the  east  by  the  Nure, 
is  enormously  strong.  It  will  not,  therefore,  surprise 
him  to  learn  that  Placentia  was  the  first  fortress  the 
Romans  established  upon  the  Po  after  the  end  of  the 
Gallic  War  in  219  B.C.  ;  they  placed  6000  colonists 
within  it  and  gave  them  Latin  rights,  and  bade  them 
hold  it  against  all  comers. 

It  was  doubtless  their  intention  to  proceed  from  this 
strong  place,  and  from  Cremona  to  the  north  of  the 
great  river,  which  they  founded  about  the  same  time, 
to  the  conquest  and  the  administration  of  all  Cisalpine 
Gaul.  They  were  already  busy  with  plans  for  the  road 
which  should  connect  Piacenza  with  Rimini,  through 
Mutina  (Modena),  a  strong  place  of  the  Gauls  already 
in  their  hands,  when  a  tremendous  disaster  prevented 
them.  That  disaster  was  the  advent  of  Hannibal  into 
this  plain,  scarcely  quiet  and  certainly  not  pacified 
after  the  long  war. 

Hannibal's  advent,  as  might  be  expected,  put  new  heart 
into  the  Gauls,  and  the  rising  of  the  Gauls  put  new 
heart  into  the  Carthaginians.  The  former  attacked 
Placentia  and  ravaged  its  territory,  and  drove  many  of 
the  colonists  to  take  refuge  in  Mutina  ;  but  the  city  held 
out  bravely  none  the  less,  and  became  the  head-quarters 
of  the  army  with  which  Scipio  meant  to  face  Hannibal. 
It  might  seem  that  the  genius  of  Hannibal,  the  unpre- 
cedented daring  of  his  great  march  from  Spain  through 
Gaul  and  over  the  Alps,  had  taken  the  Romans  utterly 
by  surprise.  The  troops  that  were  on  the  Po  were  there 
not  to  face  a  great  army,  but  to  keep  the  irregular  and 


PIACENZA  245 

broken  Gauls  in  order.  When  they  rose  at  the  rumour 
of  Hannibal's  approach,  the  praetor,  Lucius  Manlius, 
who  held  the  chief  command  at  Rimini,  hastened  up 
with  a  single  legion  to  relieve  Piacenza  if  he  could,  and 
at  least  Mutina.  He  was  unable  to  do  either,  for  he  was 
surprised  in  the  woods,  surrounded,  and  only  able  to 
defend  himself  in  his  camp  by  submitting  to  a  siege 
till  Lucius  Atilius,  with  a  second  legion,  then  on  his  way 
from  Rome  to  support  him,  reached  him,  as  he  did,  and 
relieved  both  the  camp  and  the  fortress  of  Mutina. 
It  was  not  till  the  autumn  that  Rome,  now  thoroughly 
aware  of  Hannibal's  achievement,  sent  Publius  Scipio 
with  a  Roman  army,  though  a  weak  one,  to  meet  him. 

Scipio  crossed  the  Po  at  Piacenza  and  marched  up 
stream  to  find  his  enemy,  who  had  already  captured 
Turin  and  was  on  his  way  east  and  south.  It  was  on 
the  plain,  not  far  from  Vercelli,  that  the  Roman  cavalry, 
which  was  weak,  got  into  touch  with  the  Carthaginian 
horse,  and  there  followed  the  first  battle  of  the  Second 
Punic  War,  an  affair  solely  of  cavalry,  in  which  the 
Romans  were  beaten. 

Scipio  then,  though  severely  wounded,  recrossed  the 
Po  very  cleverly  under  the  eyes  of  the  enemy,  broke  down 
the  bridge,  and,  though  this  cost  him  600  men,  succeeded 
in  retreating  on  Piacenza,  where  he  took  up  his  position 
in  the  plain  with  the  Trebbia  and  the  city  behind  him. 
This  position,  however,  he  was  not  able  to  hold,  for  the 
Gallic  insurrection  breaking  out  again,  with  the  approach 
of  Hannibal,  the  Roman  was  forced  to  put  himself  upon 
the  hills  behind  the  Trebbia,  that  is  to  say,  he  crossed 
the  river,  and  thus  came  into  that  great  natural  quadri- 
lateral which  to  this  day  makes  Piacenza  so  strong. 

Then  when  this  was  done,  and  all  made  safe,  Scipio 
seems  to  have  felt  his  wound,  which  was  no  light  matter, 
and  for  the  time  the  consul  Tiberius  Sempronius  took  the 
command.  His  term  of  office  as  consul  was  to  expire 
in  a  few  months,  and  he  knew  that  if  he  were  to  get 


246  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

the  credit  of  victory  he  must  act  at  once.  In  these  cir- 
cumstances Scipio's  tactics  did  not  appeal  to  him,  and 
Hannibal,  who  had  his  spies  everywhere,  knew  it.  There- 
fore the  Carthaginian  laid  waste  the  Gallic  villages  that 
were  faithful  to  the  Romans,  and  in  the  encounters  of 
cavalry  that  happened  in  consequence,  he  allowed  the 
Romans  to  find  themselves  victors.  Then  on  a  raw 
and  rainy  day  he  suddenly  developed  his  plan;  what 
had  looked  like  a  skirmish  developed  into  a  general 
engagement  :  the  Romans  seemed  to  be  winning ;  the 
Carthaginians  retreated  over  the  Trebbia,  the  Romans 
followed ;  suddenly  the  vanguard,  which  had  crossed  the 
river,  found  itself  face  to  face  with  the  Carthaginian 
army,  and  on  a  field  chosen  by  Hannibal.  Nothing 
could  save  it  but  the  advance  of  the  main  body,  and  this 
Sempronius  was  forced  to  send.  It  struggled  across  the 
swollen  river,  and  in  spite  of  every  disadvantage  the 
infantry  more  than  held  their  own,  when  it  was  dis- 
covered that  it  was  not  only  the  Romans  who  had  ad- 
vanced across  the  stream.  On  his  side  Hannibal  had 
secretly  advanced  looo  foot  and  looo  horse  under  his 
brother  Mago,  and  these  suddenly  fell  upon  the  Roman 
rear,  already  half  in  confusion,  slipping  in  the  mud 
churned  up  by  the  main  body  and  crushing  to  the 
advance.  A  frightful  scene  followed,  in  which  we  see 
a  broken  and  surprised  army,  trampled  under  foot  by 
elephants,  sliding  and  slipping  in  the  mud,  return  upon 
itself  and  endeavour  to  recross  the  river  where  two 
thousand  of  the  enemy  remained  to  deal  out  slaughter 
to  it ;  a  certain  number  in  utter  disarray  managed 
to  regain  the  camp.  Meanwhile,  however,  10,000  of 
the  best  Roman  infantry  had  cut  their  way  obliquely 
through  the  enemy  and  had  reached  Piacenza. 

Such  was  the  battle  of  the  Trebbia,  fought  in  the  rain 
in  the  autumn  of  218  B.C.  As  Mommsen  rightly  says, 
**  Few  battles  confer  more  honour  on  the  Roman 
soldier    than   this   on   the   Trebbia,  and   few   at   the 


PIACENZA  247 

same  time  furnish  graver  impeachment  of  the  general 
in  command." 

Thus  Piacenza  enters  history  as  the  scene  of  one  of 
the  great  battles  of  the  world.  We  hear  curiously 
little  of  it  after  the  end  of  the  long  war,  even  though 
it  then  became  the  terminus  of  the  Via  ^Emilia, 
but  in  Caesar's  time  it  seems  to  have  always  held 
a  great  garrison,  for  which  its  position  as  the  nodal 
point  of  all  the  great  roads  running  north  and  west 
would  especially  fit  it,  apart  from  its  own  strength. 
Tacitus  speaks  of  it  as  one  of  the  most  flourishing 
and  populous  cities  in  this  part  of  Gaul,  and  S.  Ambrose 
tells  us  that  it  suffered  with  the  rest  in  the  last  years 
of  the  fourth  century.  It  survived,  however,  all  the 
ravages  of  the  barbarians,  and  was  only  taken  by 
Totila  in  546  by  famine,  after  a  year's  siege,  in  which 
it  is  said  the  inhabitants  had  been  reduced  to  eat 
human  flesh.  But  it  soon  revived,  and,  partly  owing 
to  its  position  on  the  Po,  was  one  of  the  first  cities  to 
enjoy  the  revival  of  commerce  in  the  early  Middle  Age  : 
even  in  the  tenth  century  its  fair  was  perhaps  the 
greatest  in  Italy,  and  it  soon  organised  itself  as 
an  independent  commune.  In  the  beginning  of  the 
twelfth  century,  Piacenza  and  Reggio  sided  with 
Pavia  against  Parma  and  Modena,  who  stood  with 
Milan ;  but  after  the  destruction  of  Milan,  it  took  part 
in  the  war  of  the  League  against  Frederick,  and  indeed 
became  one  of  the  principal  members.  In  the  middle  of 
the  thirteenth  century  it  fell  into  the  hands  of  Uberto 
Pallavicino,  then  into  those  of  Charles  of  Anjou,  who, 
in  1290,  was  followed  by  Alberto  Scotti.  In  1313  the 
Visconti  held  it,  and,  broadly  speaking,  it  remained 
in  their  hands  and  in  those  of  their  Sforza  successors 
— Francesco  Sforza  plundered  it  in  1477 — till  1499, 
when  it  fell  to  the  French,  and,  a  century  later,  after 
the  battle  of  Ravenna,  the  Pope  got  it,  and,  save  for  a 
short  interval,  when  it  was  in  the  hands  of  Francis  i.., 


248  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

it  remained  papal,  at  any  rate  from  the  time  of  Leo  x. 
till  Paul  III.,  the  Farnese  who  raised  it  to  a  duchy 
and  gave  it  to  his  bastard,  Pierluigi  Farnese,  who,  in 
1545,  united  it  to  Parma. 

Piacenza  can  never  claim  to  be,  I  think,  one  of  the 
more  beautiful  cities  of  Lombardy,  yet  it  is  one  of  the 
most  picturesque  by  reason  of  its  colouring  and  its 
vast,  empty  piazzas,  churches  and  palaces,  the  beautiful 
vistas  of  its  streets  and  the  sense  of  space  and  bigness 
everywhere. 

The  most  famous  thing  in  it  is  its  great  Piazza — 
Piazza  de'  Cavalli — which  seems  so  large,  so  romantic 
and  so  like  something  on  the  stage,  or  in  a  dream, 
with  its  magnificent  Palazzo  del  Comune  thrust  out 
into  it  on  one  side,  the  modern  Palazzo  delle  Preture 
on  another,  the  weirdly  uncompromising  fa9ade  of 
S.  Francesco  on  a  third,  and  everywhere  long  vistas 
of  streets  opening  out  of  it  on  all  sides  and  at  every 
angle  and  corner.  Nor  is  this  all.  The  Palazzo  del 
Comune  is  perhaps  the  finest  palace  of  the  sort  in  Italy : 
yet  how  much  its  effect  here  in  this  Piazza  is  enlarged 
and  added  to  by  the  great  bronze  equestrian  statues 
which  rear  before  the  great  fa9ade — "  insignificant  men, 
exaggerated  horses,  flying  drapery  " — yes,  as  baroque 
as  you  please,  but  splendid  here,  both  in  gesture  and  in 
colour — vivid  green  against  the  terra-cotta — and  placed 
there  by  a  master. 

Nothing  in  Piacenza  is  half  so  well  worth  seeing  as 
this  Piazza  seemed  to  me  to  be  on  an  autumn  evening 
after  rain.  It  then  literally  is  a  vision  that  slowly 
vanishes  away  in  the  twilight,  from  glory  down  to 
glory  into  the  blue  night :  and  this  once  seen 
can  never  be  forgotten.  But  when  we  return  in  the 
morning  sunlight,  though  the  Piazza  still  remains 
magnificent,  it  is  no  longer  a  vision  :  all  its  poor 
details  stand  out  in  the  hard  glitter  of  light,  that 
nevertheless,  I  think,  alone  can  reunite  us  with  those 


PIACENZA  249 

affected  equestrian  statues  of  the  Dukes  Alessandro 
and  Ranuccio  Farnese,  seventeenth-century  work  from 
Tuscany,  all  but  the  colour  and  gesture  of  which  is 
veiled  by  the  evening. 

Duke  Alessandro  (1562-92),  who  seems  here  to  be 
reining  up  his  steed,  while  his  successor,  Ranuccio,  is 
in  an  attitude  of  command,  was  the  great-grandson  of 
Pope  Paul  III.,  whose  unspeakable  bastard,  Pierluigi, 
the  Pope  had  made  Duke  of  Parma  and  Piacenza, 
though  he  had  no  provable  right  to  either  of  them. 
Pierluigi  was  very  rightly  murdered  by  his  enforced 
and  long-suffering  subjects,  and  his  son,  Ottavio,  never 
reigned  in  Piacenza,  though  he  did  in  Parma.  Aless- 
andro, however,  his  son,  who  succeeded  him  in  1562, 
got  Piacenza  as  a  Spanish  fief,  as  a  reward  for  services 
in  the  Low  Countries  where  he  was  governor,  of  which 
services  the  reliefs  on  the  pedestal  of  his  statue  speak, 
among  them  of  his  interview  with  the  envoys  of  our 
great  Elizabeth  in  159 1,  when  he  tried  near  Ypres  to 
negotiate  peace.  Alessandro,  who,  for  all  his  spurious 
ancestry,  was  a  man,  was  succeeded  by  his  son,  Ranuccio, 
in  whom  Pope  Paul  iii.  seems  to  have  come  to  life  again. 
"A  gloomy  and  suspicious  man,  he  was  at  once  courteous 
and  cruel  and  a  coward,  and  if  Piacenza  can  tell  many  a 
tale  of  horror  of  which  he  was  the  author,  Parma  can 
speak  of  that  19th  of  May  1612,  in  which,  with 
savage  joy,  he  watched  the  work  of  his  headsman 
before  his  palace,  during  four  hours,  ridding  him  of 
his  nobility." 

From  the  ridiculous  statues  of  the  Farnese  we  turn 
to  the  noble  Palazzo  del  Comune.  This  was  built  when 
Piacenza  was  a  free  city.  It  dates  from  1281,  and  is  one  of 
the  earliest  and  noblest  Gothic  buildings  in  Italy.  Below 
is  an  open  arcade,  in  which  pillars  of  marble,  supporting 
pointed  arches,  support  the  palace  proper,  consisting 
of  brick  with  six  round-arched  windows  of  terra-cotta, 
and  over  all  a  marble  cornice  and  battlements,  with  a 


250  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

tower  at  the  angles.  Opposite  to  it  stands  the  Palazzo 
del  Governo,  a  modern  building  ;  but  to  the  right,  behind 
the  marble  statue  of  that  Romagnosi  who  drew  up  the 
code  for  the  Napoleonic  kingdom  of  Italy,  is  the  church 
of  S.  Francesco,  a  Gothic  building  of  brick,  begun  in 
1278,  an  excellent  thing  in  itself. 

Passing  S.  Francesco,  the  Via  Venti  Settembre  brings 
us  to  the  large  Piazza  del  Duomo.  Here  stands  the 
great  Lombard  church  that  is  now  the  Cathedral  of 
Piacenza.  It  was  consecrated  by  Pope  Innocent  11.  in 
1133,  but  was  added  to  later.  The  superstructure  is  of 
the  thirteenth  century,  and  the  central  porch  dates  from 
the  sixteenth,  while  the  whole  building  has  suffered 
restoration  in  our  own  day.  Taken  as  a  whole,  the 
Duomo  is  reverend  rather  than  noble ;  it  cannot  com- 
pare with  the  cathedrals  of  Pavia  or  Cremona,  or  with 
S.  Michele  at  Monza.  Indeed,  within,  the  effect  is  almost 
completely  Gothic  rather  than  Lombard,  or  rather  it  is 
like  a  church  of  the  transition,  and  it  fails  where  Pisa 
has  succeeded  in  the  problem  of  the  cupola,  which  here 
is  altogether  without  assurance  or  harmony.  The 
whole  church  is  heavy  and  without  life.  Under  the 
choir  is  a  vast  crypt,  borne  by  a  hundred  columns, 
consisting  of  a  nave  and  double  aisles,  and  a  transept 
with  single  aisles. 

The  dome  is  without  assurance  or  harmony,  I  said, 
but  it  contains  some  admirable  frescoes  by  Guercino 
of  the  Prophets  and  Sybils  and  Angels,  and  in  the  arches 
before  the  choir  Ludovico  Caracci  has  painted  angels 
strewing  flowers,  and  in  the  vault  of  the  apse  a  very  fine 
picture  of  the  Madonna  and  Child,  with  angels  and  saints. 
The  choir  stalls  are  of  the  fifteenth  century. 

Other  work  by  Ludovico  Caracci  is  to  be  found  in  the 
Chapel  of  S.  Martin  to  the  left  of  the  choir,  where  he  has 
painted  S.  Martin  sharing  his  cloak  with  a  beggar.  In 
the  chapel,  on  the  right,  is  an  amazing  picture  of 
ten    thousand    crucified    martyrs  —  a    whole    Roman 


PIACENZA  251 

army  miraculously  converted  and  martyred  under 
Hadrian. 

Over  the  main  door  appears  a  magnificent  carved 
altarpiece  that  once  stood  over  the  high  altar  here. 
Originally  that  altar  was,  of  course,  isolated,  approached 
on  all  four  sides,  as  is  the  high  altar  of  S.  Peter's  in  Rome 
to-day.  Later,  from  the  north  was  introduced  the 
fashion  of  these  great  and  beautiful  carved  altarpieces 
which,  in  their  turn,  gave  place  to  pictures  and  statues, 
as  here  at  Piacenza. 

But  this  great  church  was  not  always  the  Cathedral 
of  Piacenza  ;  the  seat  of  the  Bishop  was  of  old  at  S. 
Antonino,  a  church  founded  in  324  upon  the  very  spot, 
as  it  is  said,  where  S.  Barnabas  had  preached  to  the  people 
of  Placentia.  The  present  church  dates  mainly  from 
the  twelfth  century,  with  additions  of  the  fourteenth  and 
sixteenth.  Here  the  Lombard  League  met  in  11 83 
to  approve  the  peace  of  Constance.  The  church  is 
a  curious  building,  remarkable  for  its  great  north 
Porch  or  Paradise,  built  in  1350,  above  which  rises  the 
old  tower  borne  by  eight  great  round  columns. 

A  church,  not  as  old  as  S.  Antonino,  but  still  dating 
as  far  back  as  the  tenth  century,  is  that  of  S.  Savino, 
on  the  other  side  of  the  Duomo  ;  here  the  crypt  would 
seem  actually  to  belong  to  the  original  church  ;  the  rest 
of  the  building  is,  however,  of  the  sixteenth  century. 

From  S.  Antonino  it  is  easy,  before  going  farther  on 
our  way,  to  visit  the  church  of  S.  Agostino  hard  by, 
built  by  Vignola  ;  but  more  interesting,  perhaps,  is  the 
church  of  S.  Giovanni,  to  which  the  Strada  del  Teatro 
will  lead  us.  This  was  founded  by  the  Templars,  and 
in  the  cloisters  are  the  remains  of  early  frescoes. 

From  S.  Giovanni  we  return  to  the  Strada  Garibaldi, 
behind  the  Piazza,  and  proceeding  to  the  right  along  it, 
at  the  fork,  take  the  Via  di  Campagna,  which  brings  us 
presently  on  the  right  to  the  church  of  S.  Sepolcro, 
a  fine  specimen  of  Bramante's  brick  churches,  and,  a 


252  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

little  later,  to  S.  Maria  di  Campagna,  which  the  same 
artist  originally  designed,  but  which  has  been  ruthlessly 
altered.  But  we  must  forget  the  hurt  of  Bramante,  for 
here  is,  as  it  were,  the  shrine  of  Pordenone. 

This  younger  contemporary  of  Lotto,  always  impetu- 
ous, full  of  aristocratic  prejudices  and  worldly,  was  his 
complete  opposite  both  in  his  life  and  in  his  art.  Born 
at  Pordenone  in  1483,  he  died  at  Ferrara  in  1539.  He  has 
been  compared  with  Rubens,  both  on  account  of  the 
vivacity  of  his  temperament  and  his  love  of  colossal  and 
well-developed  forms.  But,  as  Morelli  rightly  reminds 
us,  while  the  Fleming  was  prolific,  prudent  and  cal- 
culating, the  Italian  was  '*  passionate,  excitable,  ill- 
regulated  and  swayed  by  pride  and  ambition."  It  is 
certain  that  he  never  attained  the  position  of  ease  and 
luxury  which  Rubens  won,  but  at  the  same  time  he 
never  sunk  into  conventionality.  "  Original,  highly 
gifted  at  times,  even  strikingly  grand,  he  at  one  period 
sought,  not  unsuccessfully,  to  rival  Titian."  His  great 
strength  lay  in  fresco  painting,  and  his  most  interesting 
frescoes  are,  I  think,  these  in  Piacenza  ;  at  any  rate 
they  are  more  accessible  than  those  near  Conegliano  and 
those  at  Treviso. 

We  see  something  of  his  gifts  in  the  curious  figure  of 
S.  Augustine  by  the  entrance,  and  more  in  that  splendid 
Adoration  of  the  Magi  in  the  first  chapel  on  the  north 
side  of  this  church,  in  the  Nativity  in  the  lunette,  and 
on  the  wall  the  Birth  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  and  above 
it  the  Flight  into  Egypt ;  and  again  in  the  Chapel  of 
S.  Catherine,  which  he  entirely  painted,  even  the  altar- 
piece  of  the  Marriage  of  S.  Catherine  being  from  his 
hand.  But  what  are  we  to  say  of  those  marvellous 
Prophets  and  Sibyls  on  the  cupola,  but  that  there  fresco 
painting  actually  passes  into  a  kind  of  glorious  music, 
into  movement,  colour  and  light. 

Hard  to  see  as  these  works  are,  badly  as  they  have 
been  treated,  they  remain  masterpieces  that  we  come  back 


PIACENZA  253 

to  again  and  again,  that  return  to  the  mind  when  one  is 
far  away,  as  indeed  do  all  his  admirable  works  in  this 
church.  Piacenza  is  to  be  loved  for  them ;  and  because 
of  them  we  are  not  too  sorrowful  that  the  Church  of 
S.  Sisto  here  no  longer  holds  that  "  Sistine  "  Madonna 
which  Raphael  painted  for  it  in  15 15,  and  which  was  sold 
in  1753  for  20,000  ducats  to  the  King  of  Poland,  who  was 
also  Elector  of  Saxony,  and  which  remains  at  Dresden. 

No  visitor  to  Piacenza  will  omit  to  visit  the  dilapidated 
palace  of  the  Farnese  Dukes — from  a  window  in  which 
Pier  Luigi's  murdered  body  was  shown  to  the  shouting 
populace  before  it  was  hurled  into  the  ditch  below — 
which  is  now  a  barracks  ;  but  one  is  likely  to  miss  the 
Museo  Civico  because  it  is  but  newly  opened,  and  since 
it  possesses  more  than  one  fine  work  it  should  on  no 
account  be  overlooked.  Besides  the  tapestry,  which  is 
precious  and  Flemish,  the  Ecce  Homo  by  that  rare 
master,  Antonello  da  Messina,  should  be  noticed,  and  a 
Madonna  and  Child  with  Angels  by  Sandro  Botticelli. 

I  cannot  refrain  from  speaking  here  of  one  of  the  true 
patrons  and  benefactors  of  Piacenza,  I  mean  S.  Roch, 
whose  life  is  so  exquisitely  told  by  Voragine. 

When  leprosy  became  less  prevalent,  then  the  plague, 
at  least  in  Lombardy,  became  often  epidemic,  and  this 
might  seem  to  have  been  especially  the  case  at  Piacenza, 
which  lies  so  low  beside  the  river  among  the  marshes. 

S.  Roch  was  the  great  deliverer  from  this  pestilence, 
and  his  presence  in  Piacenza  is  one  of  the  great  events 
in  the  life  of  the  city. 

If  the  traveller  will  go  some  three  miles  along  the 
Lodi  road  he  will  come  to  S.  Rocco  al  Porto.  This  was 
the  hermitage  of  S.  Roch,  where  the  beasts  came  and 
bowed  to  him  gravely,  all  of  which  Voragine  tells  us 
far  better  than  I  can  hope  to  do.    Therefore  hear  him  : 

S.  Roch,  or  S.  Rocke,  as  Voragine  calls  him,  was, 
according  to  the  Golden  Legend^  born  in  Montpelier  of 
noble  parentage.     "After  many  desert  places  he  came 


254  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

to  Rome,  but  tofore  he  came  into  a  town  called  in  Latin 
Aquapendens,  wherein'was  a  common  and  hard  pestilence, 
which  when  Rocke  knew  of  many  by  the  way,  he 
desirously  went  into  the  hospital  of  that  town  called 
Water-hanging  and  gat  with  great  prayers  and  labour  of 
one  Vincent,  which  had  the  rule  of  the  hospital,  that  he 
might  there,  day  and  night,  serve  the  sick  people. 
Vincent  was  afeard,  and  dreaded  lest  Rocke,  which  was 
a  young  flowering  man,  should  be  smitten  with  the  pesti- 
lence. But  after  he  came,  them  that  were  sick  he 
blessed  in  the  name  of  Christ,  and  as  soon  as  he  had 
touched  the  sick  men  they  were  all  whole.  And  they 
said  and  confessed  as  soon  as  this  holy  man  Rocke 
was  come  in.  All  they  that  were  vexed  and  sick,  and 
the  fire  of  pestilence  had  infected,  he  extincted  it  and 
delivered  all  the  hospital  of  that  sickness.  And  after 
he  went  through  the  town,  and  each  house  that  was 
vexed  with  pestilence  he  entered,  and  with  the  sign 
of  the  Cross  and  mind  of  the  Passion  of  Jesu  Christ  he 
delivered  them  all  from  the  pestilence.  For  whomsoever 
Rocke  touched,  anon  the  pestilence  left  him."  S.  Roch 
stayed  three  years  in  Rome  with  a  Cardinal  whom  he 
had  healed,  and  when  this  Cardinal  was  dead  of 
age  he  forsook  Rome  and  came  to  Rimini,  which  he 
delivered  from  pestilence.  "  And  when  that  town  was 
delivered  he  went  to  the  city  of  Manasem  (?  Mantua)  in 
Lombardy,  which  was  also  sore  oppressed  with  sick  men 
of  the  pestilence,  whom  with  all  his  heart  he  served 
diligently,  and  by  the  help  of  God  made  that  town  quit 
of  the  pestilence.  And  from  thence  went  to  Piacenza, 
for  he  understood  that  there  was  great  pestilence. 
And  so  an  whole  year  he  visited  the  houses  of  poor  men, 
and  they  that  had  most  need,  to  them  he  did  most 
help,  and  was  always  in  the  hospital.  And  when  he 
had  been  long  in  the  hospital  of  Piacenza  and  had  helped 
almost  all  the  sick  men  therein,  about  midnight  he  heard 
in  his  sleep  an   angel   thus   saying  :    '  O  Rocke,  most 


PIACENZA  255 

devout  to  Christ,  awake  and  know  that  thou  art  smitten 
with  the  pestilence;  study  now  how  thou  mayst  be 
cured.'  And  anon  he  felt  him  sore  taken  with  the 
pestilence  under  his  both  arms,  and  he  thereof  gave 
thankings  to  Our  Lord.  And  he  was  so  sore  vexed  with 
the  pain  that  they  that  were  in  the  hospital  were 
deprived  of  their  sleep  and  rest  of  the  night,  wherefore 
S.  Rocke  arose  from  his  bed  and  went  to  the  utterest 
place  of  the  hospital,  and  lay  down  there  abiding  the  light 
of  the  day.  And  when  it  was  day  the  people  going  by 
saw  him  and  accused  the  master  of  the  hospital  of 
offence,  that  he  suffered  the  pilgrim  to  lie  without  the 
hospital,  but  he  purged  him  of  that  default,  saying  that  : 
The  pilgrim  was  smitten  with  the  pestilence,  as  ye  see, 
and,  unwitting  to  us,  he  went  out.  Then  the  citizens 
incontinent  put  out  S.  Rocke  from  city  and  suburbs 
lest  by  him  the  city  might  be  more  infected.  Then 
S.  Rocke,  sore  oppressed  with  fervent  pain  of  the  pesti- 
lence, suffered  patiently  himself  to  be  ejected  out  of 
Piacenza,  and  went  into  a  certain  wood,  a  desert  valley 
not  far  from  Piacenza,  always  blessing  God.  And  there 
as  he  might  he  made  him  a  lodge  of  boughs  and  leaves, 
always  giving  thankings  to  Our  Lord,  saying  :  O  Jesu, 
my  Saviour,  I  thank  Thee  that  Thou  puttest  me  to 
affliction  like  to  Thine  other  servants  by  this  odious 
ardour  of  pestilence,  and  most  meek  Lord,  I  beseech 
Thee  to  this  desert  place  give  the  refrigery  and  comfort 
of  Thy  grace.  And  his  prayer  finished,  anon  there 
came  a  cloud  from  heaven  by  the  lodge  that  S.  Rocke 
had  made  within  boughs,  whereas  sprang  a  fair  and 
bright  well,  which  is  there  yet  unto  this  day.  Whose 
water  S.  Rocke  drank,  being  sore  athirst,  and  thereof 
had  great  refreshing  of  the  great  heat  that  he  suffered  of 
the  pestilence  fever. 

"  There  was  nigh  unto  that  wood  a  little  village  in 
which  some  noblemen  dwelled,  among  whom  there  was 
one  well  beloved  to  God  named  Gotard,  which  had  great 


256  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

husbandry,  and  had  a  great  family  and  household.  This 
Gotard  held  many  hounds  for  hunting,  among  whom  he 
had  one  much  familiar,  which  boldly  would  take  bread 
from  the  board.  And  when  Rocke  lacked  bread,  that 
hound  by  the  purveyance  of  God  brought  from  the 
lord's  board  bread  unto  Rocke.  Which  thing,  when 
Gotard  had  advertised  oft,  that  he  bare  so  away  the 
bread,  but  he  wist  not  to  whom  ne  whither,  whereof 
he  marvelled,  and  so  did  all  his  household.  And  the 
next  dinner  he  set  a  delicate  loaf  on  the  board,  which 
anon  the  hound  by  his  new  manner  took  away  and  bare 
it  to  Rocke.  And  Gotard  followed  after,  and  came  to 
the  lodge  of  S.  Rocke,  and  there  beheld  how  familiarly 
the  hound  delivered  the  bread  to  S.  Rocke.  Then 
Gotard  reverently  saluted  the  holy  man  and  approached 
him  ;  but  S.  Rocke,  dreading  lest  the  contagious  air  of  the 
pestilence  might  infect  him,  said  to  him  :  Friend,  go 
from  me  in  good  peace,  for  the  most  violent  pestilence 
holdeth  me.  Then  Gotard  went  his  way  and  left  him, 
and  returned  home,  where,  by  God's  grace,  he  said 
thus  to  himself  all  still :  '  This  poor  man  whom  I  have 
left  in  the  wood  and  desert  certainly  is  the  man  of  God, 
sith  this  hound  without  reason  bringeth  to  him  bread. 
I  therefore  that  have  seen  him  do  it,  so  ought  sooner 
to  do  it,  which  am  a  Christian  man.'  By  this  holy 
meditation  Gotard  returned  to  Rocke  and  said  :  Holy 
pilgrim,  I  desire  to  do  to  thee  that  thou  needest,  and  am 
advised  never  to  leave  thee.  Then  Rocke  thanked  God 
which  had  sent  to  him  Gotard,  and  he  informed  Gotard 
busily  in  the  law  of  Christ.  And  when  they  had  been 
awhile  together,  the  hound  brought  no  more  bread. 
Gotard  asked  counsel  how  he  might  have  bread,  for  more 
and  more  he  hungered,  and  asked  remedy  of  S.  Rocke. 
S.  Rocke  exhorted  him  after  the  text,  saying :  *  In  the 
sweat  of  thy  visage  thou  shalt  eat  thy  bread,'  and 
that  he  should  return  to  the  town,  and  leave  all  his 
goods  to  his  heirs,  and  follow  the  way  of  Christ,  and 


PIACENZA  257 

demand  bread  in  the  name  of  Jesu.  Then  Gotard  was 
ashamed  to  do  so  where  he  was  known,  but  at  last  by  the 
busy  admonition  of  S.  Rocke  Gotard  went  to  Piacenza, 
whereas  he  had  great  knowledge,  and  begged  bread  and 
alms  at  the  door  of  one  of  his  gossips.  That  same  gossip 
threatened  sharply  Gotard,  and  said  he  shamed  his 
lineage  and  friends  by  this  foul  and  indecent  begging, 
and  put  him  away,  being  wroth  and  scorning  him.  For 
which  cause  Gotard  was  constrained  to  beg  busily  at 
the  doors  of  other  men  of  the  city.  And  the  same  day 
the  gossip  that  had  so  said  to  Gotard  was  taken  sore  with 
the  pestilence,  and  many  others  that  denied  alms  to 
Gotard.  And  then  anon  the  city  of  Piacenza  was  infect 
with  contagious  pestilence,  and  Gotard  returned  to 
the  wood  and  told  to  S.  Rocke  all  that  was  happed.  And 
S.  Rocke  told  to  Gotard  tofore,  that  his  gossip  should 
hastily  die,  which  was  done  indeed.  And  S.  Rocke, 
moved  with  pity  and  mercy,  being  full  sick,  went 
into  Piacenza  being  full  of  pestilence,  and  left  Gotard 
in  the  wood.  And  though  S.  Rocke  were  sore  vexed 
with  the  pestilence,  yet  he  with  great  labour  went  to 
Piacenza  and  with  touching  and  blessing  he  helped 
and  healed  them  all,  and  also  cured  the  hospital  of  the 
same  city.  And  he  being  sore  sick  and  almost  lame, 
returned  again  to  Gotard  into  the  wood.  And  many 
that  heard  that  he  and  Gotard  were  in  the  place  of  the 
desert  valley  came  to  them,  whom  they  found  all  with 
Rocke,  and  tofore  them  all  he  did  these  miracles.  The 
wild  beasts  which  wandered  in  the  wood,  what  hurt, 
sickness  or  swelling  they  had,  they  ran  down  to  S.  Rocke, 
and  when  they  were  healed  they  would  incline  their 
heads  reverently  and  go  their  way.  And  a  little  while 
after,  Gotard  and  his  fellows,  for  certain  necessities  and 
errands,  returned  into  Piacenza,  and  left  that  time 
S.  Rocke  alone  in  the  valley.  And  S.  Rocke  made  his 
prayers  to  Almighty  God  that  he  might  be  delivered 
from  the  woimds  of  pestilence,  and  in  this  prayer  he  fell 
17 


258  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

asleep.  And  in  the  meanwhile  returned  Gotard  from  the 
city,  and  when  he  came  and  joined  him  to  Rocke 
sleeping  he  heard  the  voice  of  an  angel  saying  :  '  O 
Rocke,  friend  of  God,  Our  Lord  hath  heard  thy  prayers ; 
lo,  thou  art  delivered  from  the  pestilence,  and  art  made 
all  whole,  and  Our  Lord  commandeth  that  thou  take 
thy  way  to  thine  own  country.'  With  this  sudden  voice 
Gotard  was  astonished,  which  never  tofore  knew  the 
name  of  Rocke.  And  anon  Rocke  awoke,  and  felt 
himself  all  whole  by  the  grace  of  God,  like  as  the  angel 
said.  And  Gotard  told  unto  Rocke  how  he  had  heard 
the  angel  and  what  he  had  said.  Then  S.  Rocke  prayed 
Gotard  that  he  should  keep  his  name  secret  and  to  tell 
it  to  no  man,  for  he  desired  no  worldly  glory.  Then 
after  a  few  days  S.  Rocke  with  Gotard  and  his  fellows 
abode  in  the  desert,  and  informed  them  all  in  godly 
works,  and  they  then  began  to  wax  holy,  wherein  he 
exhorted  them  and  confirmed,  and  left  them  in  that 
desert  valley." 

Whatever  else  one  does  while  at  Piacenza,  one  should 
not  omit  to  visit  that  most  famous  shrine  of  a  great 
British  or  rather  Irish  saint  at  the  old  and  splendid 
Abbey  of  Bobbio. 

It  is  a  long  and  a  hard  journey.  Nevertheless,  it 
should  be  attempted.  The  only  way  to  do  the  whole 
journey  in  a  single  day  is  by  carriage,  for  Bobbio  lies 
at  the  end  of  a  difficult  road,  some  thirty-two  miles 
to  the  south  of  Piacenza  in  the  mountains.  It  is  true 
that  you  may  go  ten  miles,  as  far  as  Grazzano,  by  steam 
tram,  and  from  there  to  Rivergaro,  another  five  miles, 
by  a  little  train,  but  at  Rivergaro  you  will  not  get  so 
fine  a  carriage  as  at  Piacenza,  and  you  have  still  more 
than  seventeen  miles  to  go. 

But  what,  the  reader  may  ask,  is  Bobbio,  and  why 
should  one  go  there  ?  After  all,  the  British  Isles  are 
full  of  the  forgotten  shrines  of  early  British  saints  and 


PIACENZA  259 

no  one  marks  them;  indeed,  these  same  early  British 
saints  aie  more  utterly  neglected  and  forgotten  than 
any  other  sort  of  beings.  All  the  same,  if  you  care 
anything  for  holiness,  if  you  care  at  all  for  great  achieve- 
ment, if  you  have  any  reverence  for  learning  and  the  old 
great  masters  of  letters,  you  must  go  to  Bobbio,  for  there 
S.  Columban  had  his  home  and  thence  "all  the  palimpsests 
known  in  the  world  have  emerged."  ^  I  wish  in  three 
words  I  could  make  known  to  you  this  Irishman 
who  was  as  it  were  S.  Benedict  and  S.  Francis  and 
S.  Bernard  all  in  one.  I  wish  in  three  hundred  words,  or 
even  in  three  thousand,  I  could  tell  you  the  man  he  was, 
and  the  great  Abbot  and  leader,  and  above  all  the 
great  Saint.  I  know  I  can  do  none  of  these  things,  and 
I  fear  that  even  the  boldest  adventurer  who  lingers  in 
Piacenza  will,  for  all  I  can  say,  refuse  to  go  to  Bobbio 
in  the  woods  of  the  upper  valley  of  the  Trebbia.  Yet 
I  will  do  my  best. 

S.  Columban  was  bom  at  Leinster  in  543,  the  very 
year  that  S.  Benedict  died  at  Monte  Cassino.  He  was 
as  a  young  man  beautiful  and  studious,  and  the  first 
led  him  into  grave  temptation,  for  his  countrywomen 
also  were  very  fair,  and  they  loved  him ;  but  his  study 
saved  him,  for  when  he  saw  he  had  entered  into 
temptation  he  gave  himself  wholly  to  such  things  as 
grammar  and  rhetoric  and  geometry;  and  even  so  at 
last  he  fled  away.  On  the  advice  of  an  aged  woman 
he  went  first  to  Bangor  by  the  sea,  and  then  in 
585,  when  he  was  forty- two  years  old,  he  set  out  for 
Gaul,  where  he  came  into  Burgundy.  There  the  king 
received  him  graciously,  but  he  sought  the  mountains, 
the  Vosges.  Columban  loved  solitude  and  all  dumb 
things  :  birds  would  come  to  him  and  perch  on  his 
shoulder  that  he  might  caress  them,  and  in  the  forest 
even  the  squirrels  would  come  to  him  and  nestle  in  his 

^  We  owe  to  it,  for  instance,  the  De  Repuhlica  of  Cicero,  and 
the  works  and  letters  of  Cornelius  Fronto. 


26o  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

cowl ;  a  bear  is  said  to  have  resigned  its  cave  to  him. 
Such  a  man  was  not  long  without  disciples,  and  when 
they  grew  in  numbers  he  founded  monasteries  at  Anne- 
gray,  at  Fontaines  and  at  Luxeuil,  where  he  instituted 
the  hard  rule  known  as  the  Irish  Rule  ;  yet  he  was 
full  of  sweetness  to  all,  and  called  his  monks  "  my  sweet 
sons,"  "  my  pupils,"  "  my  very  brothers,"  and  himself 
**  sinner.' '  His  hard  words  he  kept  for  the  wicked,  among 
them  the  young  King  of  Burgundy,  who  presently  sent 
him  into  exile.  His  journey  soon  became  a  triumphal 
progress,  and  after  preaching  to  the  heathen  on  the 
banks  of  the  Rhine,  with  S.  Gall,  he  passed  through 
Switzerland,  where  he  left  his  friend,  into  Italy.  There 
Agilulf,  King  of  the  Lombards,  welcomed  him,  as  did 
Theodolinda  his  wife,  and  he  at  once  set  himself  to 
fight  that  very  pestilent  blight  of  Arianism  which  at  that 
time  lay  on  all  Cisalpine  Gaul.  In  the  mountains 
as  in  Burgundy,  he  founded  his  house,  at  Bobbio,  in  the 
valley  of  the  Trebbia,  to  be  his  citadel  against  heresy. 
That  was  in  612.  He  himself  lived  in  a  cave  near  a 
chapel  he  had  built  to  the  Blessed  Virgin,  but  he 
founded  a  church  and  monastery  on  the  other  side  of 
the  river,  which  though  ruined  remains  to  this  day. 
Yet  he  was  but  three  years  at  Bobbio,  for  he  died 
in  615. 

That  Bobbio  which  he  had  founded  became  the  most 
famous  and  the  most  intellectual  of  the  monasteries 
of  Italy :  it  was  the  hope  of  the  seventh  century,  and 
may  be  said  to  have  achieved  as  much  in  the  salvation 
of  Europe  as  any  other  place  whatsoever.  When  that 
was  accomplished  in  the  eleventh  century  it  began  to 
decline,  later  its  precious  library  was  distributed,  and 
in  the  seventeenth  century  it  was  but  a  shadow  of 
itself. 

The  church  which  S.  Columban  founded  stands  in 
the  upper  part  of  what  is  to-day  the  town  of  Bobbio. 
It  is  an   interesting   building,   but  its  chief  treasure 


PIACENZA  261 

is  on  the  altar  in  the  crypt,  where  in  a  curious  shrine 
the  bones  of  the  great  Irishman  await  the  last  great 
trumpet.  The  huge  monastery,  in  ruin,  is  desecrated, 
only  the  church  remains,  and,  in  the  town,  the  Duomo, 
with  its  vast  Lombard  nave  and  aisles  as  low  as  those 
of  S.  Columban  are  lofty.  Yet  Bobbio  is  a  place  to 
linger  in,  to  remember  our  Saint,  and  to  search  out 
the  mountains  as  he  did,  and  stray  about  the  woods, 
where  the  dawn  is  all  yours  and  the  sunset  and  the 
night,  and  where  one  day  telleth  another  of  the  ancient 
glory  of  God. 


CHAPTER    XVII 
THE  CHILIAN  WAY 

PIACENZA,  as  I  have  said,  v/as  the  terminus  of  the 
Via  iEmilia  which  the  consul  ^Emilius  Lepidus 
built  between  Ariminum  and  Placentia  in  187  B.C. 
The  distance  between  these  two  cities  was  180  miles, 
and  the  road  thus  constructed,  and  based  upon  the 
Flaminian  Way  which  joined  Rimini  with  Rome,  became 
the  means  of  civilisation  for  the  whole  plain.  So  great 
indeed  was  its  influence  that  in  time  the  vast  province 
which  it  traversed  and  fed  came  to  be  known  as  ^Emilia, 
and  that  name,  which  was  in  popular  use  long  before  it 
became  officially  recognised,  has  in  one  way  or  another 
persisted  till  to-day,  when  the  new  Italy  has  officially 
revived  it  and  merged  again  into  one  province  those 
parts  of  old  Emilia  which  for  so  many  centuries  were 
known  as  the  Duchies  of  Parma  and  Modena,  and  the 
province  of  Romagna. 

It  is  not  my  intention  to  deal  in  this  book  with  the 
whole  of  this  new  province,  for  the  Romagna  with 
Bologna  as  its  capital  no  longer  makes  a  true  part  of 
Cisalpine  Gaul,  as  it  once  did.  Crushed  between  the 
Veneto  on  the  north  and  Tuscany  on  the  south,  for  many 
ages  in  the  hands  of  the  Church,  the  Romagna  runs 
rather  with  that  part  of  Italy  which  we  call  the  Marches, 
and  it  is  with  them  that  I  intend  to  treat  of  it.  Nor  is 
such  a  division  by  any  means  arbitrary  or  even  modern. 
It  has  always  appeared  in  the  mind  of  the  historians, 

and  even  of  the  administrators  of  this  country.     Strabo 

262 


FACADE    OF   THE   DUOMO,    BORGO   S.   DONNINO 


IA<  ADK    r.F   THE    DUOMO,    MODENA 


THE  .EMILIAN  WAY  263 

indeed  asserts,  though  I  think  without  reason,  that  the 
iEmilian  Way  was  at  first  only  built  between  Rimini 
and  Bologna,  and  that  there  it  met  the  road  to  Aquileia. 
It  is,  however,  practically  certain  that  the  great  road 
was  thrust  forward  to  Placentia  as  quickly  as  possible, 
and  the  way  to  Aquileia  might  seem  to  be  of  far  later 
origin.  Nevertheless,  Strabo's  opinion  bears  witness 
to  the  fact  that  the  eastern  part  of  Cisalpine  Gaul, 
what  the  Middle  Age  knew  as  Romagna,  is  in  fact 
separate  from  those  great  provinces  to  the  north  and  south 
of  the  Po  that  lie  westward,  and  which  we  know  as 
Lombardy  and  Emilia. 

The  mainspring  of  this  province  of  Emilia,  whose  key 
and  first  city  was  and  is  Piacenza,  is  the  great  road  which 
lies  in  a  straight  line  south-east  right  across  it,  and  we 
shall  best  appreciate  and  understand  it  if  we  follow 
the  road  along  which  the  cities  and  towns  are  strung 
like  great  glittering  beads :  Piacenza,  Borgo  S.  Donnino, 
Parma,  Reggio,  Modena,  and  so  into  Romagna  to 
Bologna,  the  sea  and  the  Flaminian  Way,  at  Rimini. 

If  a  man  is  bent  on  seeing  Emilia  proper,  between 
Piacenza  and  Modena,  and  will  not  take  a  carriage 
but  is  determined  to  go  afoot,  let  all  honour  be  given 
to  him,  but  let  him  choose  fine  and  cool  weather  in 
spring  or  in  autumn,  for  these  eighty  miles  are  stretched 
out  in  the  Roman  fashion  straight  and  monotonous, 
and  though  the  great  hills  of  the  Apennines  come  ever 
closer  as  he  proceeds,  on  the  south,  the  way  is  monotonous, 
and  can  be  unbearable,  in  the  heat  by  reason  of  the 
dust,  and  in  the  rain  by  reason  of  the  mud. 

Choosing,  then,  a  fortunate  day,  and  starting  early 
out  of  the  S.  Lazarus  gate  of  Piacenza,  such  a  traveller 
in  something  under  a  mile  will  come  to  the  great  leper 
hospital  of  S.  Lazzaro,  which  Cardinal  Alberoni  in  the 
eighteenth  century  turned  into  an  ecclesiastical  seminary. 

Most  great  cities,  especially  in  Cisalpine  Gaul  and 
Venetia,  had  of  necessity  at  their  gates  a  great  hospital 


264  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

for  lepers,  for  plague  and  leprosy  were  endemic  in  the 
low  countries  of  the  Po  valley.  We  shall  come  upon 
just  such  a  house  as  this  outside  Parma,  Reggio  and 
Modena,  and  in  exactly  the  same  position, — that  is,  out- 
side the  Roman  gate, — and  every  visitor  to  Venice  knows 
the  island  of  S.  Lazzaro  in  the  great  lagoon  ;  but  we 
may  well  ask  why  S.  Lazarus  was  the  guardian  of 
such  places.  Doubtless  the  original  intention  was  to 
place  lepers  under  the  protection  of  him  who  full  of 
sores  lay  (mark  this)  at  the  rich  man's  gate.  Thus 
often  we  see  S.  Lazarus  depicted  as  a  medieval  leper 
carrying  a  clapper,  and  in  England  we  have  the  prayer 
of  the  lepers  :  "  Receive  my  soul  into  the  bosom  of 
Abraham  with  Lazarus,  whom  he  did  not  despise  but 
cherished."  This  Lazarus,  rightly  or  wrongly,  was 
soon  identified  with  Lazarus  of  Bethany,  the  brother 
of  Martha  and  Mary  Magdalen,  whom  Christ  raised 
from  the  dead.  Indeed,  at  Sherborne  the  leper 
hospital  was  founded  "in  honour  of  the  Saviour,  the 
Blessed  Virgin,  S.  Lazarus  and  his  sisters  Martha  and 
Mary  Magdalen,"  the  last  the  most  popular  leper  saint 
in  England.  S.  Lazarus,  as  we  know,  coming  with 
S.  Mary  Magdalen  to  Marseilles,  became  Bishop  of 
that  See;  but  as  guardian  of  lepers  he  owes  a  very 
great  deal  to  the  influence  of  the  Order  of  Knights 
Hospitallers  and  to  the  much  smaller  Order  of  Knights 
of  S.  Lazarus. 

S.  Lazzaro  now,  however,  is  no  longer  a  hospital  but 
an  ecclesiastical  seminary,  to  which  Cardinal  Alberoni 
left  all  his  property,  as  well  as  a  few  pictures,  among 
them  two  which  pass  for  the  work  of  Borgognone,  two 
warriors  on  horseback. 

Six  miles  from  Piacenza  the  Nure  is  crossed  just 
before  Pontenure,  which  was  a  Roman  town  or  village 
holding  the  bridge  :  Roman  pavements  and  mosaics 
have  been  taken  from  here  to  Parma,  where  we  shall 
find  them  in  the  Museo. 


THE  iEMILIAN  WAY  265 

Proceeding  on  our  way,  the  road  visible  for  miles 
ahead  of  us,  we  pass  Cadeo,  and  Fontana  Fredda, 
where  Theodoric  had  a  palace.  Cadeo  is  famous  for 
the  hospital  which  a  citizen  of  Piacenza,  Gisulphus, 
founded  there  in  mo  and  called  Ca  Deo.  At  Fons 
Fredda  Theodoric  is  said  to  have  founded  the  parish 
church. 

It  is  now  that  the  great  hills  and  mountains  of  the 
Apennines  begin  to  come  in  sight  on  the  south  and  to 
make  splendid  the  landscape. 

Just  beyond  Fontana  Fredda  a  perfectly  straight  by- 
way turns  off  to  the  left  across  the  railway  to  Corte- 
maggiore,  some  three  miles  away  in  the  plain,  beside  the 
Arda  torrent.  This  was  one  of  the  seats — the  chief  was 
the  town  of  Busseto,  to  which  Charles  v.  gave  the  title 
of  city  when  he  conferred  there  with  Paul  iii.,  some  six 
miles  east  of  Cortemaggiore — of  the  Pallavicino  family, 
who  ruled  all  the  country  between  the  great  road  and 
the  Po,  and  called  it  their  State.  In  the  twelfth  century 
they  extended  it  to  the  Apennines,  and  arranged  to  get 
it  erected  into  an  imperial  vicariate.  At  Cortemaggiore 
in  the  parish  church  are  two  fine  fifteenth- century  tombs 
of  the  Pallavicini ;  two  altarpieces  by  Pordenone,  in  the 
Annunziata,  are  not  so  fine  that,  if  time  presses,  it  is 
worth  going  five  miles  to  see  them. 

Passing  along  the  great  Roman  highway,  we  come  to  the 
considerable  town  of  Fiorenzuola,  the  ancient  Florentia, 
of  which  we  know  nothing  but  that  it  was  a  station 
upon  the  ^Emilian  Way.  Nothing  remains  of  the  Roman 
town,  but  in  the  Church  of  S.  Fiorenzo  there  are  some 
fine  remains  of  the  Middle  Age.  Better,  however, 
than  anything  in  Fiorenzuola  is  the  church  and  cloister 
of  Chiaravalle  della  Columba,  a  few  miles  to  the  north- 
east,and  easily  reached  by  a  road  that  leaves  the  iEmilian 
Way  some  three  miles  beyond  Fiorenzuola.  This  was  a 
Cistercian  abbey,  founded  by  the  Pallavicini  in  1136, 
and  doubtless  built  in  imitation  of  that  founded  two 


266  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

years  before  at  the  gates  of  Milan  by  S.  Bernard 
himself. 

After  leaving  Fiorenzuola,  we  skirt  the  foothills  of 
the  Apennines,  and  passing  through  Alseno  come  into 
Borgo  S.  Doninno. 

Borgo  S.  Donnino  is  the  Roman  Fidentia,  a  place 
only  known  to  us  as  a  station  on  the  ^Emilian  Way, 
fifteen  Roman  miles  from  Parma,  and  as  the  scene  of  a 
siege  and  battle  in  the  civil  wars  between  Marius  and 
Sulla.  It  seems  to  have  been  a  place  of  very  little 
importance,  the  Itineraries  calling  it  "  Fidentiola  vicus," 
and  later  **  mansio." 

In  the  year  362,  however,  Fidentia  changed  its  name 
by  a  miracle,  for  the  Bishop  of  Parma  was  in  that  year 
"  admonished  by  a  dream  "  to  call  it  after  S.  Donnino, 
a  martj^  under  the  Emperor  Maximian,  in  whose  honour 
a  church  was  then  founded. 

This  S.  Donnino  was  a  soldier  in  the  army  of  that 
Emperor  and  had  served  in  Germany.  Later  he 
became  a  Christian,  and  when  Maximian  issued  his 
edict  that  Christianity  should  not  be  professed  on  pain 
of  death,  Donnino  fled,  but  was  overtaken  near  Julia,  in 
the  iEmilian  Way.  In  362  the  Bishop  of  Parma  dis- 
covered the  body  of  the  martyr,  and  a  chapel  was  erected 
to  receive  his  remains,  and  from  that  time  his  shrine 
became  one  of  the  most  sought-after  in  Italy.  Even 
to-day  there  is  nothing  whatsoever  to  see  in  Borgo 
S.  Donnino  but  the  great  and  beautiful  church  that 
stands  over  his  shrine.  It  has  one  of  the  noblest  and 
most  beautiful  fa9ades  in  the  Lombard  manner  any- 
where to  be  seen,  and  should  on  no  account  be  missed. 

From  Borgo  S.  Donnino  the  way  into  Parma  is 
rendered  magnificent  by  reason  of  the  nearness  of  the 
mountains.  If  no  other  part  of  the  road  be  taken  afoot 
or  in  a  carnage,  for  this  at  least  the  train  should  be  left. 
It  is  true  that  there  is  almost  nothing  to  see,  but  who 
would  look  for  pictures  or  churches  when  he  may  have 


THE  iEMILIAN  WAY  267 

the  hills,  and  who  would  poke  about  cities  if  the  open 
road  were  always  as  fine  a  walk  as  is  this  ?  In  the 
train  all  is  missed,  for  though  it  slavishly  follows  the 
road,  it  passes  too  swiftly  for  reverence  and  too  noisily 
for  enjoyment. 


CHAPTER   XVIII 
PARMA 

PARMA  is  one  of  the  few  little  cities  in  Italy  that 
I  have  never  somehow  or  other  been  able  to  love. 
I  do  not  excuse  myself,  and  I  cannot  explain  it,  for 
Parma  is  as  fair  a  city  as  can  be,  the  city  of  Correggio 
too,  with  noble  palaces,  a  great  and  splendid  Cathedral, 
Baptistery  and  Tower,  pleasant  ways,  interesting 
churches,  a  good  picture  gallery  and  an  electric  tram- 
way— everything,  indeed,  to  make  glad  the  heart  of  man ; 
yet  whenever  I  find  myself  there  I  feel  a  little  in  distress. 
Perhaps  in  some  former  existence — if  indeed  that  can  be, 
and  I  do  not  believe  it — I  have  had  reason  to  dislike 
Parma,  for  I  have  none  certainly  in  this :  and  indeed 
the  only  way  such  things  as  these  likes  and  dislikes  can 
be  explained  at  all  is  by  acknowledging  the  truth  of  that 
rhyme  about  Dr.  Fell.     Parma  is  my  Dr.  Fell. 

A  Roman  colony  upon  the  ^Emilian  Way  was,  so  far 
as  we  know,  the  origin  of  Parma,  which  alone  of  these 
Cisalpine  towns  is  still  known  by  its  exact  Roman  name. 
It  was  founded  in  the  same  year  as  Mutina  was  entrenched 
— that  is  to  say,  in  183  B.C. — in  order  to  hold  securely  the 
new  road  to  Piacenza.  Parma  was  a  colonia  civium — 
that  is  to  say,  its  colonists  retained  their  privileges  as 
Roman  citizens.  There  were  some  2000  of  them  settled 
here,  and  each  received  eight  jugera  of  land.  It  soon 
became  a  flourishing  place,  as  did  all  the  colonies  upon 
the  great  road,  but  we  hear  almost  nothing  of  it  till  in 

the  civil  war  that  followed   Caesar's  murder  we  find  it 

268 


PARMA  269 

on  the  side  of  Brutus,  so  that  Antony  took  it  and  gave  it 
to  his  troops  to  plunder.  Augustus  re-established  and 
re-colonised  it,  and  it  soon  became  as  flourishing  as  before 
the  war.  It  was  situated  in  a  great  pasture  land,  and  its 
wool  was  said  by  Martial  to  be  inferior  only  to  that  of 
Apulia. 

Velleribus  primis  Appulia,  Parma  secundis 
Nobilis:  Altinum  tertia  laudat  ovis. 

In  the  year  377  a.d.,  a  generation  before  the  invasion 
of  Alaric,  Gratian  settled  a  colony  of  Goths  in  the  terri- 
tory of  Parma,  perhaps  because  it  was  then  suffering 
from  that  decadence  and  poverty  of  population  which 
S.  Ambrose  speaks  of.  Whether  or  no  Alaric  smote  it 
we  know  not,  but  it  is  probable  that  it  did  not  escape 
Attila.  If  it  did  not,  nevertheless  it  survived  the 
calamity,  was  restored  by  Theodoric  and  as  a  city  of  the 
Exarchate  was  called  Chrysopolis,  Parma  Aurea,  the 
golden  city,  and  after  the  Lombard  conquest,  which 
spoiled  if  it  did  not  destroy  it,  was  rebuilt  in  774  by 
Charlemagne.  In  the  anarchy  of  the  ninth  century  we 
find  Parma  in  the  hands  of  her  Bishop  Grazioso,  vescovo 
delta  santa  chiesa  parmense.  In  the  tenth  century  cer- 
tainly the  Bishop  had  the  title  of  Count,  and  thus  the 
first  step  was  taken  towards  a  resurrection  of  communal 
power.  By  1024  the  power  of  the  Bishop  was  waning, 
and  Parma,  in  exchange  for  large  privileges,  gave  herself 
to  Conrad  11.  and  to  Henry  iii.  Then  came  that  re- 
doubtable prelate  Cadalo.  He  would  have  restored  the 
power  of  the  Bishops  in  Parma.  He  was  a  Veronese  of 
good  family,  and  became  Bishop  of  Parma  in  1046,  and 
in  1061  the  schismatic  Bishops  of  Lombardy  and 
Germany  gathered  at  Basle  elected  this  man  Pope  as 
Honorius  11.  With  an  army  he  marched  on  Rome,  but 
was  twice  defeated,  at  last  by  the  Countess  Matilda. 
He  returned  to  Parma,  which  he  ruled  till  his  death,  and 
it  is  to  him  we  owe  the  foundation  of  the  Cathedral. 


270  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

Parma  was  at  this  time,  so  to  speak,  wholly  Ghibelline 
and  held  strongly  with  Henry  iv.  in  his  humiliation  at 
Canossa,  and  it  was  not  till  after  the  Emperor's  death 
that  the  city  was  reconciled  to  the  Papacy.  This  was 
done  at  the  Council  of  Guastalla,  and  thereafter  the  Pope, 
with  the  Countess  Matilda,  a  host  of  prelates  and  knights, 
came  to  Parma.  In  the  vigil  of  All  Saints  the  Pope 
consecrated  the  Cathedral  which  Cadalo  had  built,  and 
the  Parmigiani  swore  him  fealty. 

Now  that  religious  dissensions  were  brought  to  an 
end,  Parma  had  time  to  quarrel  with  her  neighbours. 
In  1152  she  burnt  Borgo  S.  Donnino,  and  in  the 
following  year  was  at  war  with  Cremona.  Barbarossa 
when  he  came  into  Italy  in  1154  and  1158  did  not  touch 
Parma,  for  the  city  was  on  his  side  against  Milan ;  but 
Parma  joined  the  glorious  League  which  rebuilt  Milan 
after  her  horrible  destruction  in  1163. 

After  the  Peace  of  Constance  Parma  found  herself 
a  free  commune.  But  she  did  not  long  enjoy  her 
liberty.  The  rise  of  the  factions  which  followed  hard 
upon  Liberty  saw  in  Parma  the  families  of  Rossi,  Palla- 
vicini,  Correggio  and  San  Vitale  striving  for  mastery, 
and  to  these  troubles  were  added  famine  in  11 82,  pesti- 
lence in  the  following  year  and  the  unfortunate  wars  with 
Reggio  and  Piacenza.  Upon  these  followed  the  in- 
credible anarchy  of  Guelph  and  Ghibelline,  which  endured 
till  the  death  of  Frederick  11.  Fifty  years  later,  however, 
the  Commune  was  dead,  for  in  1303  the  people  elected 
Giberto  da  Correggio  as  their  lord.  This  man  was  soon 
disposed  of  by  the  Rossi  and  San  Vitale,  and  in  1322 
Parma  found  herself  in  the  hands  of  the  Pope  John  xxii. 
Weary  of  him,  she  gave  herself  in  1328  to  Louis  of 
Bavaria,  and  later  to  John  of  Bohemia,  who  happened 
to  pass  through  the  city.  In  this  restlessness  it  is  easy 
to  discern  weakness,  and  in  the  year  1335  Parma  at 
last  found  herself  really  held  by  a  foreigner,  Alberto 
della  Scala.     From  him  she  passed  to  a  strong  man. 


PARMA  271 

Luchino  Visconti,  in  1341.  The  Visconti  held  Parma 
till  the  death  of  Bernabb  Visconti  in  1385,  when  the  city 
came  into  the  hands  of  Ottobuono  Terzi,  a  cruel  tyrant 
who  was  presently  murdered  by  order  of  Niccolb 
d'  Este,  who  had  himself  proclaimed  lord.  He  ruled 
well,  but  at  his  death  Parma  fell  to  Filippo  Maria 
Visconti,  and  after  his  death,  in  1449,  submitted  to 
Francesco  Sforza.  The  Sforza  held  Parma  securely 
till  their  end.  In  1499  the  city  gave  itself  to  Louis  xii. 
In  the  confusion  of  the  following  years  the  Pope 
claimed  Parma  in  the  name  of  the  Church.  Leo  x. 
was  able  to  barter  it  and  Piacenza  to  and  fro  to  suit 
his  politics,  and  the  Popes  continued  to  hold  it  till 
Paul  III.  gave  both  it  and  Piacenza,  as  we  have  seen,  to 
his  bastard,  Pierluigi  Farnese,  who  took  possession  of 
Parma  in  1545.  He  held  it  for  two  years  till  he  was 
assassinated  in  Piacenza  in  1547.  He  was  succeeded 
by  his  son  Ottavio,  who  later  obtained  the  whole 
"  ducato  "  in  1556,  and  ruled  well.  When  he  died  in 
1584  his  son  Alessandro,  who  was  fighting  in  Flanders, 
delegated  his  son  Ranuccio,  born  in  1569,  to  rule  his 
state.  To  these  two  princes  Parma  owes  most  of  her 
secular  splendour.  To  Ranuccio  i.  succeeded  Ran- 
uccio II.,  another  good  and  cultivated  ruler:  he  died 
in  1694.  The  house  came  to  an  end  in  1727.  During 
the  Farnese  rule  the  city  had  no  political  existence ;  it  was 
ruled  by  absolute  princes,  who  adorned  it  with  buildings 
and  filled  it  with  works  of  art,  till  indeed  it  became  a 
temple  of  beauty.  To  them  succeeded  the  Austrians 
and  the  Bourbons  of  Spain,  who  utterly  ruined  the  city 
and  the  state,  and  the  latter,  in  the  person  of  Don 
Carlos,  Infant  of  Spain  and  King  of  Naples,  carried  off 
from  it  no  pictures,  including  works  by  Michelangelo, 
Raphael,  Correggio  and  Titian,  and  many  other  works 
of  art.  In  1802  the  Duchy  was  incorporated  with 
the  Republic,  but  at  the  Congress  of  Vienna  the 
Empress  Maria  Luisa  obtained  Parma,  Piacenza  and 


272  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

Guastalla.  She  ruled  well  and  gently,  and  was  followed 
by  the  last  Bourbons,  Charles  ii.  and  Charles  iii.,  who 
remained  till  1856,  when  Parma  was  united  to  Italy. 

Such  in  briefest  outline  is  the  story  of  Parma,  a 
restless  and  an  unhappy  story  which  sinks  into  a  kind 
of  material  well-being  and  happiness  under  the  Farnese 
and  later  Bourbons. 

But  it  is  not  as  the  city  of  the  Farnese  princes,  still 
less  of  the  Bourbons,  that  we  think  of  Parma  to-day, 
but  rather  as  the  city  of  Correggio,  where  some  of  his 
most  astonishing  works  may  still  be  seen,  and  a  few  of 
his  loveliest  pictures.  Yet  there  is  in  truth  much  else 
in  Parma  for  our  reverence  and  affection.  Its  Cathedral 
is  one  of  the  finest  in  this  part  of  Italy  and  its  churches 
are  often  delightful,  while  its  great  palace  is  perhaps 
the  greatest  building  of  the  kind  north  of  the  Apennines 
and  south  of  the  Po.  Its  situation,  too,  is  delicious,  at 
the  foot  of  the  great  hills  in  a  thousand  meadows,  and 
its  towers  and  streets  and  squares,  silent  now  but  still 
not  without  gaiety,  and,  it  must  be  confessed,  utterly 
modern  in  appearance,  lend  the  city  a  charm  which, 
as  we  know,  not  many  have  known  how  to  retain  amid 
the  vulgarity  of  our  day. 

I  suppose  no  one  ever  comes  to  Parma  who  does  not 
go  first  to  the  Duomo  in  its  noble  piazza.  A  church 
has  certainly  stood  here  since  877,  but  that  early  build- 
ing was  burnt  in  the  first  years  of  the  tenth  century. 
Rebuilt,  it  was  burnt  again  about  1055,  when  Cadolo, 
the  Bishop  and  future  antipope,  rebuilt  it  once  for  all 
and  gave  us  the  magnificent  church  we  see.  This,  how- 
ever, was  not  completed  till  the  thirteenth  century. 
It  is  dedicated  to  the  Blessed  Virgin,  as  is  the  Duomo 
of  Cremona,  and,  like  that  church,  it  suffered  grievously 
in  the  earthquake  of  11 17.  The  noble  fa9ade,  of  course 
uncompleted,  remains  to  us  almost  intact  from  that 
time,  a  magnificent  specimen  of  the  Lombard  style. 
Its  three  doors  are  flanked  by  lions  of  red  marble,  and 


PARMA  273 

that  in  the  midst  is  covered  by  a  double  portico  resting 
upon  them.  These  lions  are  the  work  of  Bono  da 
Bisone  at  the  end  of  the  thirteenth  century  ;  and  the 
other  sculptures  here  are  later  still,  being  the  work  of 
Bianchini  at  the  end  of  the  fifteenth. 

The  church  is  a  cruciform  building  under  an  open 
octagon  surmounted  by  a  dome  ;  the  choir  is  raised 
above  a  crypt,  and  from  the  outside  the  arcaded  apse 
is,  I  think,  its  most  beautiful  feature.  But  the  church 
as  seen  from  the  street  is  arcaded  everywhere  :  on  the 
facade  we  have  a  triple  columnar  gallery  ;  each  arm 
ends  in  a  quadrilateral,  itself  arcaded,  to  which  is  added 
a  semicircular  apse  again  arcaded.  Nothing  more  noble, 
rich  and  charming  can  be  imagined.  Moreover,  as  we 
pass  round  the  church  we  come  upon  more  than  one 
Gothic  detail ;  and  especially  upon  that  Gothic  chapel 
of  brick  and  terra-cotta  on  the  north  side  which  has  one 
of  the  loveliest  windows  in  all  Italy,  something  that 
brings  one's  heart  into  one's  mouth  to  see  suddenly  at  a 
turning  of  the  way, — a  thing  to  pray  to. 

Within,  of  course,  the  church  is  less  satisfactory; 
yet,  save  for  a  few  Gothic  additions  and  modern  imperti- 
nences, it  remains  a  noble  Lombard  building  with  a  fine 
triforium  too,  and  in  this  it  is  far  better  than  the  church 
at  Piacenza. 

The  great  spectacle  of  the  church,  however,  is  of 
course  the  overwhelming  frescoes  of  Correggio  in  the 
dome,  which  every  one  who  comes  at  all  to  Parma  comes 
to  see.  For  myself,  they  seem  beyond  anything  else 
to  be  found  in  Parma,  and  indeed  among  the  most 
astonishing  things  in  all  Lombardy. 

Correggio's  first  frescoes  had  been  painted  for  the 
Camera  di  S.  Paolo,  fortunate  and  lovely  works,  and 
later  he  had  decorated  the  cupola  of  S.  Giovanni  Evan- 
gelista.  It  was  therefore  with  a  full  knowledge  of  his  work 
that  in  1522  he  began  to  cover  the  dome  of  the  Cathedral 
with  these  frescoes  of  the  Assumption  of  the  Blessed 
18 


274  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

Virgin,  to  whom  the  church  was  dedicated,  while 
below  stand  the  Apostles  and  the  four  patron  saints  of 
Parma. 

Nothing  else,  I  suppose,  in  European  art  has  quite  the 
sense  we  find  here,  the  sense  of  flight.  Madonna  caught 
up  from  death,  from  the  earth  and  all  earthly  things,  is 
borne  in  an  ecstasy,  her  arms  stretched  open  wide,  by  a 
glad  crowd  of  angels  and  cherubs,  one  of  whom,  laughing 
for  joy,  nestles  in  her  bosom,  into  the  heaven  of  heavens, 
a  vast  dome  of  light,  built  of  angels,  circle  after  circle,  up 
to  the  brightness  which  is  the  smile  of  God.  And  out  of 
that  dazzling  firmament  one  peerless  archangel,  Gabriel, 
God's  messenger,  has  hurled  him  down,  trembling  for 
joy,  to  meet  her  and  welcome  her,  the  Queen  of  all. 
Nothing  else  in  Europe,  I  think,  expresses  so  fully  and  so 
unreservedly  that  sense  of  flight — the  eagerness,  the  joy, 
and  the  confident,  radiant  power  of  flight — as  does  this 
matchless  fresco.  It  is  impossible  to  look  upon  it  with- 
out emotion  or  to  doubt  for  a  moment  that  the  painter 
had  seen  a  vision.  One  simply  disregards  the  painter's 
foibles  and  weaknesses  :  the  thing  is  a  rhapsody  more 
wonderful  than  a  Magnificat  by  Marenzio,  almost  in- 
articulate, if  you  like,  for  joy;  a  musical  rapture  that  is 
beyond  music,  that  is  the  expression  once  and  for  all  of 
the  highest  religious  emotion.  And  to  those  who  would 
criticise  it,  I  would  give  the  reply  Titian,  who  had  also 
painted  an  Assumption,  gave  :  "  Turn  it  upside  down  and 
fill  it  with  gold,  and  you  will  still  come  short  of  its  proper 
price."  It  has  been  tended  with  careless  hands,  and  it  is 
to-day  but  a  wreck  of  what  once  it  was.  Yet  in  colour 
still,  as  in  gesture  and  delight,  it  remains  something 
beyond  the  power  of  words  to  express,  something  that 
never  was  in  the  world  or  is  here  in  no  satisfying  quantity. 

Coming  out  from  the  Duomo  and  passing  the  great 
square  Campanile  we  have  before  us  the  Baptistery, 
an  irregular  octagon  of  red  and  grey  Verona  marble, 
begun  in  1196  by  Benedetto  Antelami  in  the  Lombard 


PARMA  275 

manner.  The  Baptistery,  six  stories  high,  was  flhished 
in  1270,  when  it  was  consecrated.  Some  thirty  years 
later  the  Gothic  story  on  the  top  was  completed. 
The  three  doors  by  Antelami  are  noble  and  beautiful, 
and  are  named  after  the  Redeemer  and  the  Blessed 
Virgin,  and  the  Gate  of  Life.  In  the  architrave  of 
each  is  a  corresponding  relief  of  great  beauty,  and 
all  round  the  building  runs  a  series  of  reliefs  in  the 
Lombard  fashion.  The  interior  is  beautiful  and  almost 
wholly  of  the  thirteenth  century — indeed,  one  of  the 
loveliest  interiors  I  know  in  Italy.  Every  one  born  in 
Parma  since  1216,  when  Antelami  finished  the  build- 
ing, has  been  christened  here,  though  not  at  this  noble 
font,  which  dates  from  1294. 

Behind  the  Duomo  stands  the  Church  of  S.  Giovanni 
Evangelista,  a  Renaissance  church  of  15 10  with  a 
seventeenth-century  facade  and  tower.  Of  old  it  was  the 
sanctuary  of  a  Benedictine  monastery  and  is  now  used 
as  a  barracks ;  and  the  only  reason  one  comes  to  it  at 
all  is  that  before  he  painted  the  dome  of  the  Cathedral 
Correggio  here  painted  the  Ascension.  His  work  is 
utterly  spoilt,  and  one  can  get  but  little  delight 
from  it,  nor  can  it  ever  have  had  the  passionate  joy 
of  the  Assumption  in  the  Cathedral ;  nevertheless,  it 
is  interesting  as  leading  up  to  that  great  masterpiece. 
Better  than  gazing  upon  this  ruin  is  it  to  find  delight  in 
the  church  itself,  in  the  beautiful  Renaissance  capitals, 
and  the  magnificent  stalls  of  the  choir,  and  the  superb 
organ  and  cantoria.  Nor  should  a  painting  from  the 
master's  hand  in  the  archway  of  the  door  of  the  sacristy 
(itself  a  very  beautiful  chamber),  representing  the  patron 
saint  of  the  church,  be  missed ;  nor  the  altarpiece  by 
Gottesaldi  in  a  magnificent  Renaissance  frame  of  1518. 
The  cloisters,  too,  are  worth  a  visit,  though  hard  to  see. 

It  was  Bernardino  Zaccagni  who  built  this  church  in 
1510  ;  in  1521  he  also  built  the  Madonna  della  Steccata 
in  the  Piazza  of  that  name  just  behind  the  Palazzo  del 


276  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

Governo  in  the  Piazza  Garibaldi.  This  is  a  noble 
building,  a  great  cross  under  a  splendid  dome.  Within 
are  the  tombs  of  Ottavio  Farnese  and  of  Sforzino  Sforza. 
The  frescoes  on  the  choir  arch  are  by  Parmigianino. 

We  turn  now  to  the  Palazzo  della  Pilotta,  an  immense 
and  unfinished  block  of  buildings  facing  the  Strada 
Garibaldi,  the  Palace  of  the  Farnese. 

Up  to  1564  the  Farnese  lived  and  held  their  court  in 
the  Episcopio.  In  that  year,  however,  they  began  to 
buy  various  houses  and  buildings  where  now  the  Pre- 
fettura  stands,  and  began  to  build  the  Palazzo  Ducale, 
that  has  served  as  residence  for  every  Duke  of  Parma 
since.  At  the  death  of  Ottavio  Farnese,  the  beginner 
of  this  vast  palace,  the  work  for  a  time  was  stayed,  and 
was  not  continued  till  Ranuccio  i.  became  lord.  In 
1618  Ranuccio  began  the  gigantic  fagade,  and  with 
him  the  work  ended  :  his  splendid  dream  was  never 
fulfilled.  But  we  ask,  why  is  the  Palace  called  "  della 
Pilotta"  ?  It  is  so  called  from  the  game  of  Pilotta 
which  was  played  in  the  great  cortile  on  the  north,  called 
now  del  Guazzatoio.^  Whatever  we  may  think  of  the 
Farnese,  we  have  to  admit  here  that  they  had  great 
ideas.  I  do  not  say  that  this  is  the  largest  palace  in 
Italy,  but  I  do  say  that  no  other  can  show  such  cortili, 
or,  I  think,  such  an  atrium,  or  such  a  staircase.  The 
whole  effect  is  noble,  and  certainly  forces  us  to  think 
that  the  position  of  Parma  in  the  kingdom  of  United 
Italy  is  not  what  it  was  as  the  capital  of  an  independent 
Duchy. 

The  Palace,  too,  contains  some  collections  of  antiquities 
and  pictures,  all  that  have  been  left  after  the  truly 
mighty  theft  of  Don  Carlos. 

In  the  Museo  di  Antichita  we  have  certain  bronzes 
discovered  here  and  at  Velleia,  a  little  town  that  was 

^  Cf.  Laudedeo  Testi,  Parma  (Bergamo,  1905),  p.  99.  This 
is  the  best  work  on  Parma  as  an  art  city  to  be  had,  and  it  is  very 
well  illustrated. 


PARMA  277 

suddenly  long  ago  overwhelmed  by  a  landslip.  In 
another  room  we  find  fragments  from  Antelami's  pulpit 
for  the  Cathedral,  and  I  know  not  what  else. 

In  the  Pinacoteca  on  the  first  floor,  we  have,  how- 
ever, some  really  beautiful  things.  To  the  Venetians 
we  owe  the  four  exquisite  Cimas :  the  Endymion 
(370),  the  Apollo  and  Marsyas  (373),  the  Madonna 
with  SS.  Cosmas  and  Damian  (360)  and  the  truly  jewel- 
like Madonna  with  S.  Michael  and  S.  Austin  (361).  This 
last  work  is  a  marvel  of  colour  and  miniature-like  beauty. 
In  the  shadow  of  a  Roman  ruin,  a  triumphal  arch,  the 
Madonna  rests,  her  Child  seated  on  the  ledge  of  marble, 
her  arm  about  Him.  Close  to  Him  stands  an  old  saint — 
is  it  S.  Austin  ? — leaning  on  a  tall  cross  of  wood,  listening 
to  what  He  seems  to  be  saying.  On  the  other  side  of  the 
Madonna,  where  the  arch  casts  its  shadow,  stands  the 
young  S.  Michael,  his  tall  spear,  slender  as  a  lily  stem, 
in  one  hand,  his  balances  in  the  other.  He  seems  to 
await  the  advent  of  some  one  unseen.  And  all  this  is 
set  in  a  divine  Italian  landscape,  at  the  foot  of  a  little 
hill  set  with  groves  and  trees,  up  which  a  country  road 
runs  to  the  little  city  on  its  top.  In  the  sky  float  the 
few  gossamer  clouds  of  a  summer  afternoon. 

The  other  Venetian  picture  here  is  by  Tiepolo,  S. 
Fedele  of  Sigmaringa  and  the  Blessed  Giuseppe  of 
Leonessa  overcoming  Heresy,  a  remarkable  work. 

Three  works  by  Francia — a  Pieta  (123),  a  Holy  Family 
(359)  and  an  altarpiece  of  the  Madonna  enthroned 
under  a  semicircular  baldachino,  her  Child  on  her  knee, 
surrounded  by  S.  Benedict,  S.  Placidus,  S.  Scholastica 
and  S.  Justina,  with  the  child  Baptist  in  the  foreground 
on  the  first  step  of  her  throne — should  be  noticed.  The 
beautiful  landscape  is  as  lovely  as  though  Perugino  had 
conceived  and  painted  it. 

Before  turning  to  the  Correggios,  we  come  to  the 
magnificent  portrait  of  the  young  Alessandro  Farnese 
by  Antonio  Moro,  a  very  fine  picture,  and  to  Van  Dyck's 


278  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

bust  of  Isabella  Clara  Eugenia  of  Spain.  Here  too  is 
one  of  Holbein's  portraits  of  Erasmus,  and  a  good 
portrait,  though  unfinished,  of  Pope  Clement  vii.  by 
Sebastiano  del  Piombo. 

In  another  room  are  two  pictures  and  some  drawings 
by  Parmigianino,  and  then  we  come  to  the  Correggios. 
The  greatest  painter  of  North  Italy  is  seen  here  almost 
at  his  best  in  the  magnificent  Madonna  and  Child,  with 
S.  Mary  Magdalen,  S.  Jerome  and  two  angels,  in  a 
marvellous  far-stretching  landscape,  called  II  Giorno. 
Commissioned  in  1523,  the  picture  was  not  finished  till 
1527,  and  the  painter  was  paid  400  imperial  lire— 
about  fifteen  pounds— for  it.  Napoleon  carried  it  off 
to  Paris,  and  there  Turner,  who  has  left  some  notes 
upon  it,i  saw  it.  A  noble  and  lyrical  work,  it  is  perhaps 
the  finest  of  Correggio's  religious  pictures.  It  certainly 
needs  a  German  critic  to  decry  its  "  deficiencies,"  and 
to  insist  that  ''  the  attitude  of  Jerome  is  affected  and 
insecure,"  and  to  add  that  "  Correggio  is  never  happy 
in  grand  things."  It  is  true  that  no  Latin  people 
can  support  the  ridiculous  parade  that  is  essentially 
barbaric  and  German,  but  it  would  need  more  than 
Teutonic  muddle-headedness  to  convince  us  that  the 
cupola  of  the  Duomo  is  not  a  "  grand  thing,"  carried  out 
with  the  astonishing  success  that  is  the  result  of  genius, 
and  that  no  amount  of  plodding  and  painstaking  work 
can  ever  hope  to  achieve,  or  apparently  to  understand. 

The  Madonna  della  Scodella,  in  which  we  see  the 
Madonna  and  Child  with  S.  Joseph  resting  on  their 
return  from  Egypt,  while  above  child  angels  dance  among 
the  clouds  and  lurking  in  the  background  watch  over 
them,  is  a  later  work  than  II  Giorno,  though  only  by 
a  few  years.  It  originally  stood  in  the  Church  of  S. 
Sepolcro  in  this  city.  These  two  works  are  the  most 
splendid  of  Correggio* s  pictures  remaining  in  Parma 
and  among  his  greatest. 
*  T,  Sturge  Moore,  Correggio  (Duckworth,  1 906),  pp.  79-80. 


MADONNA    DELLA   SCODELLA 

CORREGGIO 

Gallery  of  Parma 


PARMA  279 

In  the  spoiled  Piet^  (352)  and  the  Death  of  SS.  Placidus 
and  Flavia  (353)  we  have  work  nearly  contemporary 
with  II  Giorno  and  of  much  charm.  Both  works  were 
painted  to  the  commission  of  Placido  del  Bono,  the 
confessor  of  Paul  iii.,  for  a  chapel  in  S.  Giovanni 
Evangelista.  The  Pieta  is  totally  ruined,  but  the 
latter  work  is  in  excellent  preservation  and  everyway 
a  delight. 

Of  the  two  frescoes  here  by  Correggio,  the  fragment 
called  the  Madonna  della  Scala,  and  tne  Annunciation, 
the  latter  comes  from  the  Annunziata,  and  both  are  ruined. 
But  if  we  wish  to  see  what  Correggio  was  capable  of 
as  a  decorator  and  fresco  painter  when  dealing  with 
spaces  less  heroic  and  less  inaccessible  than  the  cupolas 
of  the  Duomo  and  of  S.  Giovanni,  we  may  do  so  in  the 
Convento  di  S.  Paolo,  once  a  Benedictine  nunnery  where 
for  the  famous  Abbess  Giovanna  da  Piacenza  in  15 18 
he  painted  his  first  work  in  fresco.  Unfortunately,  the 
triumph  of  colour  which  he  doubtless  achieved  is  gone, 
and  all  that  remains  is  a  charming  design  upon  a  pagan 
theme,  in  which  we  see  Diana  surrounded  and  peeped 
at  by  naked  cupids,  Juno  naked  and  unashamed 
suffering  punishment — a  whole  bower  of  delight  filled 
with  magic  light  and  shade  and  pleasure. 

Little  more  remains  to  be  seen  in  Parma.  The 
Library  in  the  great  lonely  Palace  and  the  Teatro 
Farnese  there  should  be  visited,  and  the  lovely  Palazzo 
del  Gardino  across  the  river  with  its  fine  frescoes  by 
Agostino  Carrocci :  and  then  Parma  is  done  with.  Yet 
before  finally  leaving  this  city  of  dead  and  despicable 
princelings,  that  yet  contrived  so  many  lovely  and  ador- 
able things,  some  light  upon  this  contradiction  which  in 
some  way  I  think  spoils  Parma  for  me  may  be  had 
at  Fornovo,  a  little  place  in  the  narrow  and  lofty  valley 
of  the  Taro  to  the  south,  easily  reached  from  Parma  by 
a  train. 

The  significant  and  as  it  now  would  appear  really 


28o  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

important  battle  which  took  place  here  in  the  year 
1495,  and  which  should  have  prevented  the  retreat  of 
the  carnival  army  of  Charles  viii.  from  Italy,  shows  us  at 
least,  though  it  does  not  explain,  the  amazing  decadence 
and  anarchy  of  a  people  that  had  almost  single-handed 
re-created  Europe. 

The  French  march  through  Italy  had,  as  we  know, 
been  rather  a  pageant  than  an  invasion.  Invited  into 
Italy  by  Ludovico  il  Moro  in  1494,  who  held  out  to 
Charles  the  bait  of  Naples,  the  French  had  been  greeted 
by  Italy  at  large  with  a  kind  of  cynical  indifference,  as 
though  the  invasion  of  their  country  were  a  matter  which 
little  concerned  them.  But  Charles  had  not  long  been 
established  in  Naples  when  Italy  took  fright,  and 
realising  the  almost  certain  consequences  of  his  conquest, 
attempted  by  some  act  to  redeem  her  lost  soul.  The 
event  proved  that  she  was  incapable  of  action  any 
longer,  as  it  proved  that  she  had  irredeemably  lost  her 
soul.    That  event  was  the  battle  of  Fornovo. 

A  great  opportunity,  to  be  seized  at  once  by  a  virile 
people,  presented  itself  to  the  Italians.  Ludovico  the 
traitor  already  repented  him  of  the  evil  he  had  done. 
He  hastily  patched  up  a  league  with  Venice,  Ferdinand 
of  Naples  and  Maximilian  the  Emperor ;  and  Charles 
awoke  one  morning  in  Naples  to  find  himself  in  a  trap. 
The  Neapolitans  were  his  enemies ;  and  Charles,  seeing 
that  almost  everything  was  already  lost,  began  at  full 
speed  his  long  retreat  through  Italy.  He  had  to  cross 
the  Apennines,  and  his  only  road  lay  over  the  Cisa  Pass, 
which  debouches  by  the  valley  of  the  Taro  upon 
Fornovo  and  Parma.  Here,  and  rightly  here,  the 
Venetians  and  the  Milanese  awaited  him  with  an  over- 
whelming force. 

In  his  anxiety  Charles  gave  his  enemies  every  oppor- 
tunity of  revenge.  His  army  was  weakened  by  disease 
and  by  many  a  minor  expedition  which  had  been 
detached  from  it.     Nor  was  he  careful  of  conciliation. 


PARMA  281 

The  wanton  destruction  by  the  Swiss  of  Pontremoli 
would  have  roused  the  indignation  of  any  people  still 
capable  of  anger.  But  Italy  was  spiritually  bankrupt. 
Slowly,  for  all  his  haste,  the  French  and  their  Swiss 
allies  crossed  the  summit  of  the  mountains,  slowly  they 
descended  into  Lombardy  by  the  left  bank  of  the  Taro, 
until  their  vanguard,  thirty  miles  in  advance,  reached 
Fornovo  on  July  2,  and  halted  there  three  days  till  the 
king  should  arrive. 

The  Venetians  and  Milanese  were  encamped  at 
Giarola"  in  the  plain  under  the  last  spur  of  the  moun- 
tains between  it  and  the  Taro.  They  had  the  French 
vanguard  at  their  mercy,  and,  that  destroyed,  the  whole 
army,  encumbered  with  artillery,  would  have  been  an 
easy  prey  in  the  exhaustion  of  that  long  passage.  Oppor- 
tunities so  precious  are  seldom  offered  to  despairing 
men,  and,  once  lost,  can  never  be  retrieved.  The 
Italians  did  not  even  attack. 

We  may  estimate  the  total  forces  so  amazingly 
opposed  in  the  trap  of  the  Taro  valley  at  some  nine 
thousand  on  the  French  side,  as  opposed  to  some  thirty- 
six  thousand  of  the  Venetians  and  Milanese.  The 
Italians  thus  had  it  four  to  one,  and  the  whole  position 
was  so  profoundly  in  their  favour  that  had  they  been 
outnumbered  still  their  victory  seemed  inevitable. 
Yet  the  Italians  consented  to  negotiate  :  they  **  wished 
to  let  the  king  pass,  without  perilling  their  cause  by  a 
general  action,  which,  as  all  know,  is  essentially  hazardoust 
and  ought  therefore  to  he  avoided."  ^ 

Meanwhile  the  French  had  crossed  the  Taro,  and 
both  forces  were  now  upon  the  right  bank.  At  eight 
on  the  morning  of  July,  6  the  French,  their  army 
united,  resumed  their  march.  The  king  was  with  the 
main  body,  the  artillery  followed  the  advance  and 
the  baggage  was  on  the  left.     A  Venetian  gun  opened 

1  Sanuto's  own  words  :  Guicciardini  inculpates  the  others  as 
well  as  the  Venetians. 


s82  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

the  battle  (if  battle  it  can  be  called),  and  was  promptly 
dismounted  by  the  artillery  of  the  enemy,  who  then 
recrossed  the  Taro  and  marched  on  for  about  a  mile. 
Then  came  the  one  incident  of  the  day,  which,  though 
it  may  be  called  an  act  on  the  part  of  the  Italians, 
only  completes  their  shame.  The  Marquis  of  Mantua, 
at  the  head  not  of  an  Italian  but  of  a  Dalmatian 
force  of  irregular  horse,  charged,  and  had  nearly  suc- 
ceeded in  cutting  his  way  to  the  king,  when  his  undis- 
ciplined men  spied  the  baggage,  and  gave  themselves 
up  to  pillage.  Meanwhile,  the  Italians  had  yielded 
everywhere,  four  to  one  though  they  were,  and  at 
last,  as  the  French  pushed  onward,  the  Italian  army, 
broken  and  fugitive,  poured  back  across  the  Taro  in 
utter  confusion,  and  fled  towards  Parma. 

Charles  forbore  to  press  his  advantage,  his  business 
was  the  safety  of  his  retreat.  He  encamped  his  weary 
army  about  a  mile  from  the  field.  Even  next  day  the 
Italians  might  have  struck  a  blow  which  would  for  long 
have  preserved  their  country  from  foreign  invasion. 
They  did  nothing  :  jealousy  distracted  their  leaders, 
and  they  contented  themselves  with  announcing  their 
*' victory  "  to  their  respective  Governments,  the  Venetians 
even  ordering  triumphant  festivities  "  on  the  strength 
of  having  captured  the  King's  baggage,  of  having  carried 
off  his  rosaries  and  a  portfolio  of  portraits  of  the  ladies 
of  his  harem." 

Such  was  the  battle  of  Fornovo,  which  closed  the 
fifteenth  century  in  Italy  and  led  to  the  long  paralysis 
and  captivity  which  has  only  passed  away  in  our  own 
day.  A  visit  to  Fornovo  reconciles  us  even  to  the 
Farnese  rule  in  Parma,  for  Italy  deserved  nothing  better. 


CHAPTER   XIX 
REGGIO 

THE  road  from  Parma  to  Reggio,  some  eighteen 
miles  of  the  ^Emilian  Way,  is  far  less  attractive 
than  the  way  between  Piacenza  and  Parma,  yet  it  has 
a  charm  of  its  own,  and  I  for  one  never  tire  of  those  vast 
spaces  of  country  subject  to  the  sky,  where  the  earth 
lies  spread  out  infinite  and  quiet  to  the  mountains  on 
the  south  and  to  the  far  low  horizon  on  the  north. 

Just  as  outside  Piacenza  we  found  a  leper  hospital 
about  a  mile  from  the  city,  so  we  do  outside  Parma  and 
at  about  the  same  distance.  Nearly  a  mile  before 
we  come  to  S.  Ilario  we  cross  the  Enza  and  come  out 
of  the  Duchy  of  Parma  into  the  Duchy  of  Modena. 
Thence  the  road  runs  as  straight  as  a  ruled  line  into  the 
little  city  of  Reggio. 

Reggio,  so  far  as  we  know  or  can  ascertain,  was  a  mere 
stronghold  founded  by  iEmilius  Lepidus  to  serve  and  to 
guard  his  great  highway.  It  seems  to  have  no  Gallic 
origins  whatever,  indeed  its  earliest  name  was  Forum 
Lepidi,  and  the  origin  of  its  later  appellation,  Regium 
Lepidi,  is  unknown.  It  did  not  become  a  colony  like 
Parma  and  Mutina,  and  never  rose  to  the  wealth  and 
prosperity  that  they  achieved,  yet  it  has  this  claim  to 
fame  that  it  was  here  Marcus  Brutus,  the  father  of  the 
murderer  of  Caesar,  was  put  to  death  by  Pompey  in 
79  B.C. 

That  Reggio  was  little  more  in  the  time  of  the  Empire 

than   a   mere  country  town   is   confirmed   to   us   by 

283 


284  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

S.  Ambrose,  who  speaks  of  its  bareness  and  decay,  and  like 
Parma  it  was  one  of  the  places  in  which  Gratian  settled 
his  Gothic  captives.  It  suffered,  of  course,  in  the  Dark 
Ages  from  the  incursions  of  the  barbarians,  and  was 
then,  in  so  far  as  its  central  part  about  the  Cathedral  was 
concerned,  surrounded  by  a  wall.  About  this,  in  time, 
rose  the  borghi,  that  on  the  west  being  at  first  limited 
by  the  torrent  Crostolo,  whose  bed  has  now  become  the 
Corso  Garibaldi. 

Like  every  other  Lombardy  town,  it  benefited  by  the 
Peace  of  Constance  in  1183,  and  established  the  lordship 
of  its  Commune  upon  the  surrounding  territory,  enclosing 
then  its  borghi  with  the  wall  which  in  some  sort  we 
still  see  ;  the  principal  gates  being  those  of  S.  Croce, 
S.  Pietro,  S.  Stefano  and  Castello,  which  named  the 
quarters  of  the  city. 

In  1339  Luigi  Gonzaga  had  obtained  the  lordship  of 
Reggio,  and  he  then  built  the  Cittadella,  in  the  place 
now  occupied  by  the  Passeggio  Pubblico,  on  the  ruins 
of  a  hundred  and  twenty-five  houses  and  a  ruined  con- 
vent within  the  city,  and  twenty-four  other  buildings 
without  it.  The  Cittadella  besides  being  a  fortress  con- 
tained the  parochial  Church  of  S.  Nazaro  and  the  Ducal 
Palace,  and  it  is  now  thought  that  Ariosto  was  born 
within  its  walls  on  September  8,  1474. 

In  1409  Reggio  was  united  by  Niccolo  d'  Este  to 
Modena,  which  his  house  had  obtained  in  1288.  The 
last  Este  to  reign  was  that  Hercules  11 1.  who  lost  his 
dominions  at  the  Peace  of  Luneville,  when  Reggio 
came  with  the  rest  of  the  dukedom  of  Modena  to 
the  Austrian  House,  from  which  it  only  passed  in 
1859,  when  Vittorio  Emanuele  proclaimed  United 
Italy. 

The  centre  of  Reggio  for  ages  has  been  the  Piazza  del 
Duomo,  now  called  after  Victor  Emmanuel;  it  is  the 
heart  of  the  city  now  as  in  old  days,  and  there  stand 
the  Cathedral,   the   Bell  Tower   and   the   Palazzo  del 


REGGIO  285 

Comune,  now  the  Monte  di  Pieta.  Beside  the  Palace 
open  the  arcades  of  th©  Peschiera,  where  opposite  the 
Municipio  is  Albergo  della  Porta,  known  in  the  seven- 
teenth century  as  the  Osteria  del  Cappel  Rosso,  In 
front  of  the  Monte  di  Pieta  stands  the  Municipio,  built  in 
1414,  and  here  in  the  great  Sala  del  Consiglio  was  held, 
on  January  7,  1797,  the  Congress  of  the  cities  of  the 
Emilia  which  created  the  short-lived  "  Repubblica 
Cispadana." 

On  the  eastern  side  of  the  Piazza  stand  the  Duomo 
and  the  Palazzo  Vescovile,  to  the  left  of  which  is  the 
Palazzo  dei  Canonici.  Opposite  is  the  house  of  Ariosto. 
The  Palazzo  Vescovile  is  of  great  antiquity  of  founda- 
tion, but  as  we  see  it  is  a  building  largely  of  the  sixteenth 
century. 

The  Duomo,  originally  a  Lombard  church  of  the 
twelfth,  was  largely  re-erected  in  the  fifteenth  and  six- 
teenth centuries.  Thus  its  fagade  is,  in  so  far  as  it  is 
finished,  of  the  Renaissance,  with  recumbent  figures,  in 
the  manner  of  Michaelangelo,  of  Adam  and  Eve  by 
Prospero  Clementi  over  its  main  doorway,  and  the  four 
statues  in  the  niches  representing  S.  Grisante,  S.  Daria, 
S.  Venerio  and  S.  Gioconda  are  by  his  pupils.  Above, 
in  the  beautiful  octagonal  tower,  is  a  bronze  group 
of  the  Madonna  and  Child  with  two  Donors,  Giroldo 
Fiordibelli  and  Antonia  Boiardi,  by  Bartolommeo 
Spani. 

Within,  the  Cathedral  has  a  lofty  choir  over  a  crypt, 
but  it  has  suffered  many  restorations.  Here  we  find  the 
best  works  of  these  two  Reggiani  sculptors,  Bartolommeo 
and  Prospero  Clementi.  To  the  former  belongs  the 
tomb  of  Valerio  Malaguzzi,  uncle  of  Ariosto,  in  the 
third  chapel  on  the  right,  and  the  tomb  of  Bishop  Buon- 
francesco  Arlotti  in  the  chapel  to  the  left  of  the  choir ;  to 
the  latter  the  tombs  of  Ugo  Rangoni,  Bishop  of  Reggio, 
and  Paul  iii.,  nuncio  at  the  court  of  Charles  v.  In  the 
chapel  to  the  right  of  the  choir,  the  beautiful  Christ 


286  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

upon  the  altar  and  the  tomb  of  Cherubino  Sforzani  in 
the  left  aisle  are  also  his. 

Behind  the  Duomo,  in  the  Piazza  di  S.  Prospero, 
stands  the  church  of  S.  Prospero,  built  on  the  foundation 
of  an  old  Lombard  building  by  Gasparo  Bisi  in  1504. 
The  aspect  of  this  Piazza  is  very  charming,  not  only  by 
reason  of  the  Church  of  S.  Prospero  and  the  fine  old 
octagonal  tower  which  stands  beside  it,  but  because  the 
three  apses  of  the  Duomo,  so  gracious  from  here,  look 
into  the  square  and  add  something  strange  and  lovely  to 
its  quietness.  Unfortunately,  the  fagade  of  S.  Prospero 
is  of  1748,  but  the  six  lions  in  red  Verona  marble  are  by 
Bisi  and  were  carved  in  1503. 

Here  again  we  find  the  work  of  the  Clementi.  To 
Bartolommeo  is  due  the  tomb  of  Rufino  Gabloneta  over 
the  entrance,  and  to  Prospero  the  fine  statue  of  the 
Madonna  in  the  right  transept.  Here,  too,  by  the 
fourth  altar  on  the  south  side  is  a  picture,  perhaps  by 
Sodoma,^  welcome  in  so  poor  a  place  as  Reggio.  This 
work,  S.  Homobonus  giving  alms,  is  a  remarkable  and 
powerful  picture,  with  certain  curious  and  almost  gro- 
tesque faults.  Mr.  Cust,  whose  book  on  Sodoma  is  a 
mine  of  carefully  gathered  information,  suggests  that 
Anselmi  was  Sodoma's  partner  in  this  work.  There 
are  two  altarpieces,  as  it  happens,  by  Anselmi  in  this 
church,  a  fine  S.  Paul  and  a  Baptism  of  Our  Lord. 
It  is  interesting  to  compare  them.  The  frescoes  by 
Bernardo  Campi  of  Cremona  in  the  choir  have  been 
restored. 

Returning  to  the  Piazza  del  Duomo  and  taking  the 
Via  di  S.  Pietro  Mart  ire,  and  then  turning  to  the  right  up 
the  Corso  Garibaldi,  we  come  to  the  Madonna  della 
Ghiara.  This  is  a  beautiful  church  in  the  form  of  a  Greek 
cross  built  in  Bramante's  manner,  and  of  fine  proportions. 
In  the  right  transept  is  a  Madonna  by  Lelio  Orsi.    Now, 

1  Venturi  gives  it  to  Bernardino  Zacchetti,  an  obscure 
Reggian  painter.     Cf.  L'Arte,  1901,  Sept.-Oct.  fasc.  ix.-x. 


REGGIO  287 

till  I  came  to  Reggio  all  I  knew  of  Lelio  Orsi  was  that  he 
had  a  very  original  picture,  the  Walk  to  Emmaus  (1466), 
in  the  National  Gallery.  He  was  probably  a  son  of  that 
Bernardino  Orsi  a  picture  by  whom  I  find  in  the  Duomo 
of  Reggio.  He  was  certainly  employed  to  decorate 
some  triumphal  arches  erected  in  honour  of  Ercole 
Gonzaga's  visit  to  Reggio  in  1536,  and  it  has  been 
thought  that  he  was  a  pupil  of  Correggio.  In  1546  he 
was  banished  from  Reggio  for  some  unknown  offence, 
and  in  1552  he  was  pardoned  and  allowed  to  return. 
During  these  years  he  lived  at  Novellara,  to  the  north  of 
Reggio,  on  the  line  to  Guastalla  and  within  easy  reach 
of  the  city.  There  some  of  his  works  remain,  as  do 
more  than  one  in  the  Museo  here  in  Reggio. 


CHAPTER    XX 
MODENA 

NOTHING  of  much  interest  is  to  be  found  on  the 
great  road  between  Reggio  and  Modena.  A  mile 
or  more  outside  the  Roman  gate  of  Reggio  we  find,  as 
before  at  Parma,  a  leper  hospital  under  the  dedication 
of  S.  Lazzaro.  At  S.  Maurizio  we  pass  a  villa  of  Ariosto's, 
and  at  Rubiera  we  are  in  a  fief  of  Boiardo,  the  author 
of  the  Orlando  Innamorato,  who  was  not  only  a  poet,  but 
lord  of  Scandiano,  five  miles  away  to  the  south  at  the 
foot  of  the  great  hills.  Then,  after  crossing  the  Secchia, 
the  great  road  curves  suddenly  northward,  really  the 
first  turn  it  has  made  since  it  left  Piacenza  :  and  we 
enter  the  city  of  Modena. 

Modena,  the  Roman  Mutina,  a  Gallic  city,  probably  of 
Etruscan  origin,  belonged  to  the  Boii,  and  seems  to  have 
come  into  Roman  hands  in  222  B.C.,  at  the  close  of  the 
Gallic  War.  They  fortified  it,  and  at  the  opening  of  the 
Second  Punic  War,  in  218  B.C.,  it  was  already  a  consider- 
able place,  and  there  the  triumvirs  took  refuge  when 
the  Gauls  rose  to  greet  Hannibal  and  Placentia  was 
no  longer  safe.  It  was  thus  a  walled  town  before 
Piacenza  or  Cremona,  and  it  is  probable  that  even  in 
Gallic  times  it  had  been  a  stronghold.  In  183  B.C.  the 
Republic  determined  to  establish  a  colony  here  and  at 
Parma  :  these  were  both  coloniae  civium,  and  their 
2000  settlers  enjoyed  the  full  rights  of  Roman  citizens. 

Mutina,  however,  had  not  been  long  founded  when  it 
suffered  disaster.    The  Ligurians   of   the   hills  swept 


MODENA  289 

down  upon  it  in  177  B.C.,  and  succeeded  in  taking  the 
town,  but  Caius  Claudius  was  at  hand,  and  is  said  to 
have  retaken  the  place  easily  enough,  slaughtering  8000 
of  the  enemy.  It  then  rose  rapidly  to  prosperity,  and 
alone  of  the  Cisalpine  towns  bore  a  conspicuous  part  in 
the  Social  War  as  it  did  in  the  Civil  War  that  followed 
the  death  of  Caesar,  so  that  Suetonius,  recounting  its 
adventures,  speaks  of  the  Bellum  Mutinense,  and 
Cicero  speaks  of  it  as  firmissima  et  splendidissima  populi 
Romani  colonia.  In  the  time  of  the  Empire  it  was  still 
wealthy,  but  we  hear  little  of  it  till  in  312  a.d.  Con- 
stantine  the  Great  took  it  during  his  war  with  Maxentius, 
and  before  the  end  of  that  wonderful  century  it  had 
begun  to  feel  the  great  decline  of  which  S.  Ambrose 
speaks,  in  which  these  cities  along  the  ^Emilian  Way 
fell  into  ruin  and  decay,  and  their  territories  into  a 
barren  wilderness. 

In  the  early  Dark  Age  it  was  ravished  by  Attila  per- 
haps more  severely  than  any  other  town  of  Emilia,  but 
under  the  Lombard  Kings  it  again  rose  to  importance  as 
their  frontier  city  towards  the  Exarchate ;  yet  the  wars 
brought  it  to  decay,  and  in  the  tenth  century  we  have 
a  lamentable  picture  of  its  ruin,  its  territory  little 
better  than  a  morass,  and  itself  covered  with  mud  and 
water.  In  the  eleventh  century  Modena  came  into 
the  hands  of  the  Canossa,  but  after  the  death  of  the 
great  Countess,  in  the  first  years  of  the  twelfth  century, 
we  see  it  developing  a  commune  at  first  owing  allegiance 
to  the  Empire,  but  presently  joining  the  Lombard 
League  against  the  Emperor.  Then  the  usual  wars  of 
the  factions  brought  it  into  the  hands  of  a  lord.  This 
was  Obizzo  d'  Este  of  Ferrara.  It  is  true  he  was  dis- 
posed of  in  1306  after  a  defeat  at  the  hands  of  the 
Bolognesi,  and  a  short  period  of  popular  government 
followed.  But  soon  the  Bonacolsi  had  it,  and  then  the 
Este  house  again.  The  Este  had  now  come  to  remain, 
which  they  managed  to  do  till  1796,  when  the  French 
19 


290  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

entered  and  made  of  Modena  a  province  of  the  Cisalpine 
Republic  and  later  of  the  Italian  kingdom.  In  1814, 
however,  the  ducato  was  restored  under  an  Austrian 
house,  only  to  be  ended  in  1859,  when  Modena  became 
a  part  of  the  kingdom  of  United  Italy. 

In  its  great  days,  surrounded  completely  by  its  walls 
and  strong  in  its  citadel,  Modena  must  have  seemed  a 
formidable  place,  very  different  from  the  open  city 
we  see  to-day,  now  that  what  is  called  "  progress  "  has 
demanded  and  obtained  the  destruction  of  both  fortress 
and  walls.  Four  gates  have  always  given  access  to 
the  city :  the  Porta  Bologna  on  the  east,  the  Porta 
S.  Agostino  on  the  west,  the  Porta  S.  Francesco  on  the 
south  and  the  Porta  Mirandola  on  the  north. 

The  centre  of  Modena  beside  the  .Emilian  Way,  which 
traverses  Modena  from  end  to  end  as  it  does  Parma  and 
Reggio,  is  the  Piazza  Grande,  in  which  stands  the  Duomo. 
This  great  church  is  still  one  of  the  noblest  in  Lombardy. 
It  was  begun  in  1099,  before  Modena  had  erected  her 
Comune,  and  was  finished  in  1184.  Its  builder  was 
Lanfranc ;  but,  ages  before  he  began  to  build  the 
church  we  see,  the  Bishop  of  Modena,  in  the  year  400, 
had  built  a  basilica  here  over  the  tomb  of  S.  Gimignano. 
This  building  fell  into  ruin  in  the  year  1000.  It  is  prob- 
able that  the  present  church  owes  much  to  the  Countess 
Matilda :  it  was  consecrated  by  Pope  Lucius  iii.  when 
he  passed  through  Modena  in  1184.  There  are,  how- 
ever, certain  fragments  from  the  older  basilica  in  the 
present  building.  The  fa9ade,  which  is  richly  sculptured 
with  scenes  from  the  history  of  man  down  to  Noah,  the 
work  of  Nicolaus  and  Wiligelmus,  is  adorned  with  a 
lovely  rose  window  above  the  main  portal  and  with  a 
delightful  colonnade  which  girdles  the  whole  church  and 
consists  of  the  three  arches  borne  by  small  columns  within 
a  larger  arch  supported  by  pilasters,  and  an  engaged 
column  springing  from  the  ground.  The  main  portal, 
flanked  by  two  simple  round  arched  doors,  is  covered 


MODENA  291 

by  a  double  canopy  borne  by  columns  resting  upon  the 
usual  lions  of  Verona  marble. 

The  most  delightful  part  of  the  exterior  of  the  church, 
however,  is  the  semicircular  choir  and  crypt  to  the  east, 
flanked  on  either  side  by  smaller  semicircular  apses, 
and  guarded  by  two  delightful  turrets,  between  which 
rises  the  eastern  wall  of  the  nave.  The  southern  side 
of  the  church  has  two  good  doorways,  each  with  a 
canopy  borne  by  lions :  here,  too,  is  a  pulpit  and  some 
reliefs  of  the  story  of  S.  Gimignano  by  Agostino  di 
Duccio,  fifteenth-century  work. 

The  interior,  unfortunately,  has  been  so  amazingly 
restored  that  the  effect  of  antiquity  has  quite  passed 
from  it.  The  nave  and  aisles  with  pointed  vaulting 
are  borne  by  alternate  pillars  of  brick  and  columns  of 
marble,  above  which  is  a  triforium.  The  choir  is  raised 
over  a  lofty  crypt  borne  by  thirty  lovely  columns  of 
marble  for  the  most  part  with  Renaissance  capitals. 
Here  is  the  tomb  of  S.  Gimignano. 

In  the  right  aisle  of  the  church  by  the  third  altar  is  a 
curious  terra-cotta  group  representing  the  Presepio  by 
Antonio  Begarelli,  a  work  of  the  early  sixteenth  century. 
Over  the  second  altar  in  the  left  aisle  are  some  fine 
reliefs,  and  over  the  third  altar  a  beautiful  Coronation 
of  the  Blessed  Virgin  by  Serafino  de'  Serafini,  painted 
in  1385.  It  bears  the  inscription :  Seraphinus  de  Sera- 
phinis  pinxit  1385  die  Jo  vis  xxiii  Marcis.  This  is 
generally  said  to  be  the  earliest  work  of  a  Modenese 
painter.  Close  by  over  the  next  altar  is  a  Madonna  on 
high  with  S.  Jerome,  S.  Sebastian  and  S.  John  Baptist, 
painted  in  1522  by  Dosso  Dossi  of  Ferrara  :  it  was 
painted  for  the  comunUj  an  association  of  the  priests 
serving  the  Cathedral. 

Opposite  this  altar  upon  a  pillar  is  the  beautiful 
Gothic  pulpit  which  Enrico  da  Campione  made  in 
1321. 

In  the  choir  we  come  upon  a  tomb,  that  of  Francesco 


292  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

Molza,  erected  in  15 16  by  Bartolommeo  Clementi  of 
Reggio,  and  not  far  away  some  curious  sculptures  of 
the  Passion  of  the  twelfth  century;  above  are  some 
spoiled  frescoes.  The  stalls  here  are  of  the  fifteenth 
century  from  the  hand  of  Cristoforo  da  Lendinaria. 

United  now  to  the  Cathedral  by  two  modern  arches 
rises  the  lovely  campanile  called  La  Ghirlandina,  begun 
at  the  same  time  as  the  Cathedral,  and  finished  as  we 
see  it  in  13 19.  It  has  often  been  struck  by  lightning,  for 
it  is  335  feet  high,  and  though  properly  a  bell  tower 
has  in  the  Middle  Age  been  used  as  a  defence. 

To  the  east  of  the  Duomo,  across  the  Piazza,  before 
the  apse,  is  the  Palazzo  della  Ragione,  now  a  savings 
bank.  To  the  south  is  the  Palazzo  di  Giustizia,  and  to 
the  west,  in  a  corner,  the  Arcivescovado. 

Apart  from  the  Duomo,  the  churches  of  Modena  have 
little  interest.  S.  Francesco,  however,  which  is  beauti- 
ful, should  be  visited,  for  it  is  of  the  fourteenth  century, 
and  contains  a  vast  terra-cotta,  consisting  of  thirteen 
life-sized  figures  representing  the  Deposition.  It  is  by 
Begarelli.  Not  far  from  S.  Francesco,  too,  is  the  Church 
of  S.  Pietro,  with  a  lovely  fagade  of  the  Renaissance 
and  several  of  Begarelli's  works.  Here,  too,  is  a  striking 
altarpiece  by  Francesco  Bianchi  of  the  Madonna  en- 
throned with  S.  Jerome  and  S.  Sebastian,  while  three 
putti  make  music  at  her  feet.  In  the  predella  are  scenes 
from  the  story  of  S.  Sebastian.  Nor,  I  suppose,  should 
S.  Agostino,  the  Pantheon  d'Este,  be  omitted,  one  of  the 
finest  baroque  churches  in  existence. 

But  the  true  interest  of  Modena  does  not  reside  in 
her  churches,  which  with  the  exception  of  the  Duomo 
are  of  altogether  mediocre  importance.  The  delight  and 
splendour  of  Modena  lie  in  her  picture  gallery  in  the 
Albergo  Arti,  after  those  of  Milan  and  Bergamo  the 
finest  in  all  Lombardy.  The  collection,  which  was 
presented  to  the  city  by  Francis  v.  in  1869  and  has  since 
been  enriched  by  the  addition  of  the  Campori  collection, 


MODENA  293 

unfortunately  has  no  catalogue.  We  will,  however, 
take  the  schools  separately,  beginning,  as  is  here  but 
good  manners,  with  that  of  Ferrara,  from  which  the 
Modenese  sprang. 

We  begin,  then,  with  a  very  late  work  by  Cosimo  Tura, 
a  full-length  figure  of  S.  Anthony  of  Padua.  He  is  at 
Rimini  by  the  sea,  and  seems  about  to  turn  round  and 
preach  to  the  fishes,  as  we  know  he  did  there.  It  is 
painted  almost  in  monochrome,  and  probably  formed 
part  of  an  altarpiece  once  in  the  Chapel  of  S.  Niccolb 
at  Ferrara. 

By  Ercole  Roberti,  the  pupil  of  Tura,  we  have  here 
also  a  later  picture,  one  of  those  classical  subjects  he 
executed  for  the  Ferrarese  Court.  It  represents  the 
Death  of  Lucrezia,  and  is  charming  but  much  damaged. 

From  Tura  and  Ercole  Roberti  we  pass  to  Francesco 
Bianchi,  and  so  to  the  Modenese  school.  Bianchi  was 
probably  the  pupil  of  Tura,  and  certainly  the  follower 
of  Ercole  Roberti.  Here  in  his  native  city  there  are 
most  of  the  works  from  his  hand  that  are  now  known. 
The  altarpiece  in  S.  Pietro  we  have  already  noted. 
For  the  Duomo  he  painted  three  medallions  with  the 
Madonna  and  S.  Sebastian  and  S.  Gimignano  in  fresco 
on  the  ceiling  of  the  sacristy.  Here  in  the  Pinacoteca 
are  two  certain  and  two  doubtful  pictures.  The  works 
certainly  his  are  the  early  Crucifixion  (442)  and  the 
Annunciation  (476)  which  he  left  unfinished  at  his  death. 
The  Crucifixion  clearly  shows  the  influence  of  Roberti, 
and  so  indeed  does  the  Annunciation,  painted  in  1506. 
Here  in  a  noble  court,  through  the  beautiful  Renais- 
sance arch  of  which  we  catch  a  glimpse  of  the  hill 
country.  Madonna  kneeling  at  an  elaborate  prie-Dieu 
is  roused  from  her  prayer  by  Gabriel,  who  trips  softly 
across  the  court,  dropped  from  the  summer  sky  whence 
God  the  Father  amid  the  cherubim  speeds  the  Dove, 
His  hand  raised  in  blessing.  A  delightful  if  a  mannered 
picture  we  may  think,  and  assuredly  Bianchi  had  had 


294  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

many  forerunners  in  Modena  before  the  school  was 
absorbed  by  that  of  Ferrara,  such  as  that  Serafino 
Serafini  whose  sole  work  remains  in  the  Duomo.  Such 
were  Tommasso  da  Modena  (1325-26),  a  small  Polyp- 
tych  (489)  by  whom  is  to  be  found  here,  and  his 
younger  contemporary,  Barnab^  da  Modena  (c.  1367- 
1383)^  by  whom  also  we  have  here  a  Polyptych  of  the 
Madonna  and  Child  with  S.  Catherine  and  the  Baptist, 
the  Annunciation  and  the  Crucifixion  (486)  ;  and  the 
Fra  Paola  da  Modena,  who  is  the  author  of  that  Madonna 
deir  Umilti  where  Madonna  seated  on  the  ground 
gives  suck  to  her  Child,  while  a  friar  kneels  in  adoration. 
This  work,  which  is  signed  and  dated,  was  painted  in 
1370,  but  it  has  been  entirely  repainted. 

Nor  besides  these  fourteenth-century  painters  must 
one  forget  to  mention  others  of  the  fifteenth  century, 
less  famous  than  Bianchi,  but  who  were  influenced  as 
he  was  by  Tura.  Such  are  Agnolo  and  Bartolommeo 
Erri,  who  in  1465  painted  a  Triptych  of  which  the  chief 
subject  is  the  Coronation  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  now  in 
the  Pinacoteca  here  (unnumbered).  Tura  had  in  Modena 
his  mere  imitators,  too.  Such  were  Cristoforo  da 
Lendinara,  who  in  1482  signed  and  painted  the  picture 
of  the  Madonna  and  Child  here  (485),  and  Bartolommeo 
Bonascia,  the  author  of  a  striking  Pieta  (486). 

But  in  truth,  however  we  look  at  it,  the  school  of 
Modena  was  but  a  branch  of  the  Ferrarese.  A  pupil  of 
Ercole  Roberti,  who  though  not  a  Modenese  may  well 
be  mentioned  here,  was  Correggio,  by  whom  this  gallery 
can  boast  a  single  picture,  a  Madonna  and  Child  (17), 
a  much  damaged  and  badly  repainted  picture  from  the 
Campori  collection. 

Returning  now  to  the  Ferrarese  pictures,  we  come 
upon  a  group  of  works  by  Dosso  Dossi  (1479-1541). 
In  his  earlier  and  better  work  this  master  came  under 
the  influence  of  Giorgione.  A  comparatively  early 
picture  and  a  delightful  one  is  the  Jester  (474)  here, 


MODENA  295 

which  Mr.  Gardner  declares  holds  the  same  position  in 
Dossi's  art  as  the  Mona  Lisa  does  in  Leonardo's.  What- 
ever we  may  say  to  that,  we  cannot  but  be  fascinated 
by  this  jolly  clown  nursing  a  sheep  under  a  tree  in  a 
wide  countryside,  and  laughing  at  us  heartily  enough 
straight  out  of  the  picture.  But  Dosso  Dossi  can  paint 
an  altarpiece  as  well  as  the  laughter  of  a  clown  or  the 
mystery  of  Circe,  and  we  have  perhaps  his  best  in  the 
Madonna  and  Child  in  the  heavens  surrounded  by 
winged  cherubs  with  S.  George  and  S.  Michael,  the 
devil  under  his  foot,  below  in  our  world  (437). 

As  a  portrait  painter  Dosso  also  excelled.  The  por- 
trait of  Ercole  d'  Este  here  (450)  is,  however,  a  post- 
humous reconstruction  of  the  Duke.  It  was  painted 
in  1524.  Nor  was  he  anything  but  the  first  of  the 
decorators  of  his  day,  though  the  fragments  of  what 
would  seem  to  have  been  a  fine  work  of  the  kind  here 
are  too  much  damaged  for  us  to  appreciate  them. 

Several  works  from  the  hand  of  Dosso's  brother, 
Battista  Dossi,  are  to  be  found  in  the  Pinacoteca.  Among 
them  is  that  fine  Nativity  (440)  in  which  it  would  seem 
we  have  portraits  of  Alfonso  i.  and  Ercole  11.  A  Portrait 
of  the  former  (450)  and  a  Madonna  and  Child  with 
S.  Francis  and  S.  Anthony  and  the  Confraternity  of 
S.Maria  della  Neve  below  (446),  should  also  be  mentioned. 

Dosso  Dossi  was  born  in  1478  ;  Garofalo,  in  whose 
making  he  had  some  influence,  in  1481.  From  his 
hand  we  have  a  Deposition  (285)  painted  in  1527  and  a 
Madonna  and  Child  enthroned  with  angels  and  saints, 
S.  John  Baptist,  S.  Lucy  and  the  Beato  Contardo 
d'  Este,  painted  in  1533  ;  and  from  his  pupil  Girolamo 
da  Carpi,  we  have  a  Portrait  of  Ercole  d'  Este  (471). 

We  now  turn  to  the  school  of  Cremona.  By  Boccaccio 
Boccaccino  (1467-1525  c.)  we  have  a  Madonna  and 
Saints  (426) ;  by  Giulio  Campi,  the  Portrait  of  a  Man  in 
Black  (217) ;  and  by  Sofonisba  Anguissola,  a  Portrait  of 
a  Man,  a  tondo  (301). 


296  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

The  Veronese  school  is  represented  by  a  single  picture 
of  Caroto's,  a  delightful  thing,  the  Blessed  Virgin  sewing, 
painted  in  1501. 

From  Verona  we  pass  to  Venice.  In  the  Portrait 
of  a  Man  (319)  we  have  a  doubtful  Alvise  Vivarini, 
but  we  have  the  veritable  hand  of  his  pupil  Bartolommeo 
Montagna  in  a  picture  of  the  Madonna  and  Child  (5), 
painted  in  1503.  Cima,  another  of  Alvise's  pupils, 
is  here  in  a  Pieta  (143),  and  Catena  in  a  picture  of  the 
Madonna  and  Child  with  Two  Saints  (404). 

By  the  Tuscans  we  have  four  pictures :  the  Madonna 
and  Angels  adoring  the  Divine  Child  (449)  by  Botticini, 
a  Madonna  and  Child  with  the  infant  John  Baptist 
(334)  ^^^  3-1^  early  work  by  Franciabigio,  the  Birth  of 
the  Baptist  (223).  Best  of  all  these,  perhaps,  we  have  a 
delightful  little  panel  of  the  Nativity  (457)  by  Giovanni 
di  Paolo  the  Sienese. 

But  the  treasure  of  the  gallery  as  it  happens  is  not 
any  Italian  picture,  but  the  noble  Velasquez,  which 
alone  would  make  a  visit  to  Modena  a  necessity.  This 
is  a  portrait  of  Francis  d'  Este,  Duke  of  Modena  and 
Reggio,  and  was  painted  in  Spain  in  1638.  ''The 
Duke,"  Palomino  tells  us,  "  highly  honoured  Diego 
Velasquez,  and  praised  his  rare  gifts  ;  and  when  Diego 
painted  him,  mvich  to  his  satisfaction,  he  generously 
rewarded  him,  especially  with  a  rich  gold  chain,  which 
Velasquez  generally  wore,  as  was  customary,  upon 
feast  days  in  the  palace."  This  magnificently  virile 
picture  for  long  passed  as  a  Van  Dyck,  but  I  have 
seldom  seen  a  work  wherein  at  the  first  glance  the 
painter's  name  more  certainly  leaps  to  the  mind. 


'  ^»  »  »t.* 


FRANCESCO    D  ESTE,    UUKK   OF    MODKNA 


VELASQUEZ 

Gallery,  Modena 


CHAPTER    XXI 
CANOSSA 

IT  would  be  a  good  thing  to  take  the  opportunity  of 
the  general  dullness  both  of  Reggio  and  Modena  to 
visit  Novellara,  if  only  for  the  sake  of  Lelio  Orsi,  or,  from 
Modena,  Mirandola,  if  only  for  the  sake  of  Pico  the 
humanist,  but  that  a  far  more  interesting  and  adven- 
turous journey  offers  itself  as  one  lingers  in  Reggio, 
and  at  length  so  insistently  that  it  cannot  be  denied. 
I  mean  a  journey  into  the  high  Apennine  to  that  castle 
of  the  great  Matilda  where  Pope  Gregory  vii.  humbled 
the  Emperor  Henry  iv.,  and  so  thoroughly  that  even 
Bismarck  remembered  it,  saying  to  Leo  xiii.  that  he 
would  not  go  to  Canossa  whatever  else  he  might  do  ; 
but,  as  we  know,  in  the  quieter  fashion  that  even  the 
Germans  have  learnt  to  adopt  in  our  day,  he  went  all  the 
same.  Canossa  remains  in  the  imagination  of  the  world 
as  the  symbol  of  the  mighty  work  that  Rome  achieved 
during  the  Dark  Ages,  I  mean  the  creation  of  the 
Papacy  that  was  not  only  to  dominate  but  to  civilise 
Europe,  and  when  Hildebrand  on  that  bare  and  pallid 
rock  broke  Henry  in  the  cruel  winter  of  1077  that 
creation  was  proclaimed  to  Europe  and  the  two  succeed- 
ing centuries  were  already  secured. 

There  are  half  a  dozen  ways  from  Reggio  to  Canossa. 
That  is  the  easiest  and  I  think  the  best  which  takes  you 
afoot,  by  carriage  or  by  train,  into  the  valley  of  the 
Enza  at  S.  Polo,  and  so  to  Ciano.    At  Ciano  you  may  get 

a  mule,  or  you  may  walk  by  Rossena  to  that  magnificent 

297 


298  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

and  isolated  spot  where  the  destiny  of  Europe  for  more 
than  two  centuries  was  decided.  All  the  way  is  fair,  and 
nothing  in  the  world  is  more  inspiring  than  the  splendid 
climb  from  Ciano  to  Canossa.  The  lords  of  Canossa 
held  in  their  day  not  only  these  mountains  and  all  the 
passes  into  Italy  across  them,  but  a  vast  part  of  Lom- 
bardy,  including  Parma,  Reggio,  Mantua  and  Brescia, 
to  say  nothing  of  Tuscany  and  Spoleto.  One  feels  at 
once  on  leaving  Reggio  and  entering  the  region  of  the 
hills  that  one  is  at  last  really  in  their  country. 

The  first  founder  of  Canossa,  that  Sigifredo  who  came 
up  from  the  Arno  valley  probably  by  the  Cisa,  the  way  of 
Hannibal  before  him,  and  the  way  of  all  the  Emperors 
and  of  Charles  viii.,  was  very  rich,  and  when  he  saw  the 
pleasant  wealth  of  Lombardy  perhaps  from  the  spurs 
of  these  very  hills  as  we  may  see  it  to-day,  he  bought 
lands  and  signory  in  Reggio,  and  left  his  children  when 
he  died,  in  945,  what  was  in  truth  a  kingdom.  Azzo  his 
son  had  Canossa,  which  he  fortified  and  where  he  lived, 
and  thither  the  beautiful  Adelaide  came  for  safety  from 
Berenger,  titular  King  of  Italy,  who  when  she  rejected  his 
suit  imprisoned  her  on  the  Lago  di  Gar  da.  She  fled  to 
Mantua,  dressed  as  a  man,  where  Azzo,  to  whom  she  had 
appealed,  found  her  and  bore  her  off  in  safety  to  his  eyrie. 
And  when  Otho  the  Emperor  appeared  in  Italy,  sought 
her  and  married  her,  Azzo  was  heaped  with  honours  so 
great  that  Berenger  was  forced  to  attack  him  in  Canossa. 
The  siege  which  followed  lasted  for  three  years.  When 
Azzo  died  he  was  ruling  not  only  in  the  mountains, 
but  the  whole  northern  plain  between  Reggio  and 
Brescia. 

He  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Tebaldo,  and  he  by  his  son 
Bonifazio,  and  both  increased  their  power,  Bonifazio 
adding  the  Duchy  of  Tuscany  to  his  lordship  and  ruling 
like  a  sovereign  king.  Henry  iii.  the  Emperor  certainly 
went  in  fear  of  him.  But  with  Bonifazio  the  Canossa 
house  seemed  likely  to  end,  for  by  his  marriage  with 


•.    •  •  « 


CANOSSA  299 

Beat/ice  of  Lorraine  he  had  but  one  daughter,  Matilda  ; 
in  fact,  however,  she  was  the  greatest  of  her  house,  the 
gran  donna  d' Italia,  the  friend  of  Hildebrand  and  the 
handmaid  and  protectress  of  the  Papacy  and  the  Church, 
she  who  reminded  Dante  of  Persephone  as  she  went 
alone  singing  and  plucking  flower  after  flower  that 
strewed  her  way.  We  shall  meet  her  again  at  Canossa. 
She  lived  a  virgin,  and  on  her  death  her  vast  inheritance 
passed  by  her  will  to  the  Holy  See. 

Such  was  the  house  that  ruled  all  this  country,  the 
centre  of  whose  power  was  set  here  high  among  the 
everlasting  hills. 

If  you  set  out  from  Reggio  by  train,  you  will  go  through 
Bibbiano  to  S.  Polo,  if  by  road  you  will  pass  the  Quattro 
Castella.  In  Bibbiano  there  is  nothing  to  see,  and  no 
time  to  see  it  if  there  were;  but  the  Quattro  Castella 
offers  the  traveller  one  of  the  most  astonishing  spectacles 
in  Italy.  Four  conical  hills  rise  from  the  vast  hillside 
aU  in  a  line  barring  the  way,  and  each  crowned  by  a 
castle.  They  are  the  first  outworks  of  that  vast  system 
of  defence  which  guarded  Canossa.  The  most  in- 
teresting is  Bianello,  for  it  alone  conserves  something 
of  Matilda's  time.  It  is  the  second  of  the  four,  the  first 
to  the  east  being  Monte  Vecchio,  the  third  Monte  Lucio, 
the  fourth  Mongiovanni,  where  stood  the  Chapel  of 
S.  Niccolb,  in  which,  it  is  probable,  Henry,  coming  from 
Bianello,  met  Matilda  and  the  Abbot  of  Clugny  in  con- 
ference. This  Bianello  was  founded  by  the  great 
Countess,  who  often  lived  there.  In  1077  i*  received 
Henry  iv.,  and  in  that  same  year  the  Pope,  while  it 
was  here  Matilda  took  refuge  when  Henry  assaulted 
Canossa  in  1092.  But  neither  Canossa  nor  Bianello 
was  the  habitual  residence  of  Matilda.  Her  home  was 
in  the  castle  she  had  built  at  Carponetti,  the  beautiful 
ruin  of  which  still  remains  in  the  high  Apennines  almost 
due  south  of  Canossa. 

S.  Polo,  where  the  train  takes  you  before  bringing  you 


300  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

to  Ciano,  is  also  a  bright  village  that  appertained  to  the 
great  Countess,  as  did  all  in  this  country.  It  was  united 
to  the  feud  of  Bianello.  In  1372  it  came  into  the  hands 
of  Bernabo  Visconti,  and  later  into  those  of  Niccolo 
d'  Este.  The  hill  that  rises  behind  S.  Polo  towards  Parma 
is  Guardasone.  Its  castle  was  probably  the  Guardia 
d'Azzone,  hence  the  name,  but  this  Azzo  was  not  he  of 
Canossa,  but  Azzo  da  Correggio,  lord  of  Parma  in  1341 
and  the  friend  of  Petrarch. 

At  Ciano,  where  one  leaves  the  train,  there  is  nothing 
to  see.  A  horse  or  mule  hence  to  Canossa  costs 
four  lire.  The  Trattoria  of  Filippo  Quirino  musters 
seven  beds  in  all,  and  they  cost  a  lira  apiece.  It 
is  possible  to  sleep  here,  but  only  advisable  if  it  is 
necessary. 

As  one  leaves  Ciano,  the  great  red  hill  and  castle  of 
Rossena  come  in  sight,  and  from  Rossena,  you  who  have 
come  by  train,  and  we  who  have  come  afoot,  go  on 
together  by  the  same  road. 

Rossena  was  a  fortress  of  Bonifazio  Canossa,  but 
there  is  not  much  to  be  said  about  it.  It  is  a  splendid 
thing  rather  than  a  famous  one,  and  yet  it  is  famous 
too  by  reason  of  the  pitiful  legend  of  Everelina.  In 
the  dungeons  of  Rossena  lay  in  mortal  fear  Cildo, 
flung  there  by  the  tyrant  Usualdo.  His  daughter 
Everelina,  "  bella  come  1'  amore  e  la  speranza,"  maddened 
by  her  father's  captivity,  fled  one  night  from  her  mother's 
house  and  ran  to  the  castello  of  Usualdo,  where,  flinging 
herself  at  his  feet,  she  offered  herself  in  exchange  for  her 
father.  Usualdo  agreed.  Cildo  was  given  up,  and  when 
Usualdo  would  have  brought  Everelina  to  his  bed,  she 
begged  that  she  might  offer  one  prayer  to  the  morning 
star  from  her  balcony.  This  was  permitted  her,  and  she 
flung  herself  into  the  bottomless  ravine,  never  to  be  seen 
again  by  mortal  eyes. 

Beyond  Rossena,  but  not  directly  upon  the  way  to 
Canossa,  is  the  delicious  and  wooded  spot  known  as 


CANOSSA  301 

Selvapiana,  where  Petrarch  was  the  guest  of  Azzo  da 
Correggio  in  the  summer  of  1341,  and  here  he  began 
his  Africa,  completed  later  in  Parma. 

After  Rossena,  the  great  white  and  naked  rock  of 
Canossa  crowned  by  its  ruin  comes  in  sight,  in  wonderful 
contrast  with  Rossena  itself.  Here  in  the  winter  of 
1077  the  two  great  forces  of  the  world  met  in  combat, 
and  the  Emperor  fell. 

It  is  almost  impossible  for  us  in  our  confused  and  wholly 
material  age  to  understand  the  drama  that  was  played 
out  upon  this  naked  upland,  as  it  were  upon  the  top  of 
the  world,  in  the  three  days  and  nights  of  that  bitter 
January.  The  Emperor  had  come  from  his  Germany 
into  Italy  with  the  intention  of  making  the  Pope  prisoner. 
He  knew  not  what  he  was  proposing.  To  humble  the 
Latin  world,  which  the  Papacy  expressed,  was  in  itself 
a  barbarian,  if  an  honourable,  adventure ;  but  to  break 
the  heart  and  the  soul  of  Europe  was  to  achieve  what 
even  Attila  had  failed  to  do.  As  the  event  proved,  when 
the  two  men  were  face  to  face  it  was  the  barbarian  who 
was  to  go  down,  and  that  not  by  force  of  arms  but  by 
force  of  will.  Henry,  after  all,  apart  from  his  position, 
was  not  a  great  man.  At  war  with  his  German  feud- 
atories, hated  by  his  sons,  unfaithful  and  cruel  to 
his  wife,  weak  in  all  his  ways,  he  was  always  dis- 
trusted by  Gregory,  and  these  disagreements  had 
ended  at  last  in  his  excommunication.  Abandoned  by 
his  nobles,  the  Emperor  summoned  a  council  in  Augsburg, 
and  the  Pope  set  out  with  Matilda  in  December  1076  to 
attend  it.  He  got  no  farther  than  Vercelli  when  he 
heard  that  Henry  was  on  his  way  into  Italy  at  the  head 
of  an  army.  Then  the  great  Countess  persuaded  the 
Holy  Father  to  place  himself  in  her  keeping  in  her 
Castle  of  Canossa.  Hildebrand  agreed,  and  the  end  of 
the  year  saw  him  in  safety  upon  the  Apennines,  within 
the  strongest  fortress  in  Italy. 

Henry,  however,  could  only  threaten.     He  entered 


302  THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 

Italy  indeed,  but  only  as  a  fugitive,  with  his  wife  Bertha 
and  his  little  son  Conrad,  and  but  a  single  servant. 
He  crossed  the  Mont  Cenis  in  disguise,  accepting  the 
hospitality  of  shepherds,  who,  amid  incredible  hardships 
in  the  snow,  led  and  lowered  him  by  ropes  over  the 
almost  impassable  mountains.  He  reached  Turin,  and 
set  out  for  Canossa.  All  the  world  now  watched  him 
on  what  was  little  more  than  a  pilgrimage  of  penance. 
But  Italy  was  not  Germany,  and  he  found  in  the  Cis- 
alpine plain  more  friends  than  he  had  expected.  As 
time  went  on,  he  found  himself  at  the  head  of  a  great 
force,  and,  like  the  barbarian  he  was,  he  dreamed  that 
this  might  avail.  He  had  not  begun  to  understand 
what  he  would  have  opposed. 

At  Canossa  everything  was  ready  for  an  attack. 
Azzo  d'  Este  was  there  and  Hugh,  Abbot  of  Clugny,  and 
over  them  all  the  great  Countess.  Uplifted  before  all 
Europe,  the  Emperor  and  the  Pope  faced  one  another 
to  decide  who  should  be  master. 

Henry  came.  Was  it  the  mountains  that  had  broken 
him,  or  the  astonishment  of  Italy,  or  the  hand  of  God  ? 
Whatever  it  was,  he  was  broken.  His  first  act  was  to 
beg  intercession  from  Matilda,  who  with  Hugh  the 
Abbot  met  him  when  he  begged  it  at  Bianello.  The 
Countess,  who  was  his  cousin,  undertook  to  plead  his 
cause. 

Then  Hildebrand  said  :  "  If  Henry  is  indeed  repentant, 
let  him  lay  down  crown  and  sceptre,  and  declare  that 
he  is  unworthy  of  the  name  of  a  king." 

There  spoke  the  soul  of  Europe  that  cannot  be  broken. 

Henry  did  as  he  was  ordered.  It  was  the  end  of 
January ;  the  earth  was  covered  with  snow,  the  streams 
were  silent  with  frost.  In  the  thin  garb  of  a  penitent,  in 
a  shirt  of  white  linen,  the  successor  of  the  Caesars,  nay 
Caesar  himself,  slowly  climbed  the  rocky  path  to  the  outer 
gate  of  Canossa.  And  they  all  looked  upon  him  as  he 
stood  before  the  closed  inner  gate.    There,  in  the  bitter 


CANOSSA  303 

weather,  he  waited  fasting  for  three  days  and  three  nights. 
On  the  fourth  day,  half  dead  with  cold,  the  wretched 
Emperor  was  brought  into  the  presence  of  God's  Vice- 
gerent. He  prostrated  himself  in  the  dust,  crying  for 
pardon.  Then  Hildebrand  placed  his  foot  upon  the 
Emperor's  neck  and  spoke :  "Super  aspidem  et  basiliscum 
ambulabis  et  conculcabis  leonem  et  draconem  "  :  Thou 
shalt  tread  upon  the  lion  and  the  adder  :  the  young 
lion  and  the  dragon  shalt  thou  trample  under  thy 
feet. 

After  this  Gregory  said  Mass  and  permitted  Henry  to 
receive  the  Blessed  Sacrament. 

That  scene  will  live  for  ever  in  the  mind  of  man,  for 
it  is  the  most  perfect  expression  of  that  Europe  out  of 
which  we  are  come  and  to  which  we  shall  return. 
Canossa  is  its  monument,  a  place  worthier  of  pilgrimage 
by  us  who  are  European  than  ever  was  Becket's  tomb 
at  Canterbury,  holy  though  that  was  and  famous 
through  the  world.  Canossa  was  a  bigger  victory  than 
Canterbury,  and  Italy  a  bigger  stage  than  England. 

Look  you,  then,  how  the  mountains  shine  hence,  and 
all  Lombardy  is  spread  out  before  them,  and  Italy  far 
away  thrice  guarded  there  to  the  south.  It  is  well  that 
our  journey  should  draw  to  an  end  in  such  a  famous 
place  as  this,  where  we  may  look  back  upon  our  many 
days  of  going,  and  possess  them  all  in  a  single  heart's 
beat,  a  single  glance,  as  Hildebrand  looked  over  the 
world. 

There  lies  Cisalpine  Gaul,  jewelled  with  cities — 
Modena,  Parma,  Verona,  Mantua;  girdled  with  her 
mighty  river,  the  glistening  belt  of  the  Po ;  islanded  by 
the  Euganeans,  and  ringed  and  fortressed  by  the  Alps. 
Here  are  the  Apennines,  yonder  is  Italy  :  and  the  story 
of  Europe,  that  noble  tale  of  great  Rome  turned  Chris- 
tian, and  all  our  past,  at  our  feet. 


INDEX 


Abelard,  129,  185 

Acerrse,  9 

Acqua  Fredda,  46 

Adalbert  11.,  152 

Adaluald,  164,  165,  167 

Adda,  the,  6,  9,  25,  40,  45 

Adelaide,  Empress,  152,  298 

Adige,  the,  6 

Adolphus  succeeds  Alaric,  23 

Ady,  Mrs.     See  Cartwright 

-^milian   Way,   13,    243,    262, 

283,  289 
Agilulf  the  Goth,  164,  165,  208, 

223,  260 
Agrate,    Marco,    his    work    in 

Milan,  95,  102 
Aguanegra,  223 
Aix-la-Chapelle,  treaty  of,  76 
Alaric  invades    Italy,    19,   21, 

22,  23,  28,  59,  93,   94, 

269 
Alba,  7,  68,  69 

Bishop  of,  231 
Alberoni,  Cardinal,  263,  264 
Alberti,     Leon     Battista,     his 

work   in   Mantua,    209, 

210,  215,  218 
Albertinelli,  127,  179 
Alboin,  the,  26,  149,  223 
Alciato,  73 

Alemanna,  Antonio  d',  173 
Alemanni,    the,    invade    Italy, 

25 

Alessandri,      Cardinal     Longo 

degli,  174 
Alessandria,  68,  224 
foundation  of,  66 
Alessi,   Galeazzo,   his  work  in 
Milan,  113,  114 
his  work  in  Pa  via,  1 45 

20 


Alexander  iii..  Pope,  opposes 

Barbarossa,  65,  66 
Alfred,  King,  157 
Alps,  the,  the  gates  of  Italy, 

2-4,  14,  16,  17 
Alseno,  266 
Altenburg,  179 
Altichiera  of  Verona,  his  work 

in  Milan,  117 
Altinum,  24 
Alzano,  183 
Amadeo,    Giovanni     Antonio, 

228 
his  work  at  Bergamo,   174, 

175 
his  work  at  Pavia,  141,  145, 

146,  147 
Amalie,  Princess,  127 
Amati,  the,  of  Cremona,  233 
Ancona,  27,  232 
Andreassi,  Bishop  Giorgio,  211 
Angelico,  Fra,  143,  179 
Anghera,  Castle  of,  34 
Angilbertus  11,,  Archbishop,  90, 

91  note 
Anguissola,  Sofonisba,  181,  295 
Anne  d'  Alen9on,  217 
Annegray,  260 
Anselmi,  286 
Anspert,     Bishop,     rebuilds 

Milan,  60 
Antelami,  Benedetto,  274,  277 
Antonello  da  Messina,  253 
Antony,  Mark,  269 
Apennines,  the  gates  of  Italy, 

2-4,  17 
Apulia,  269 

Aquileia,  20,  23,  24,  223,  263 
Arcevia,  126 
Arcimboldi,  the,  103 


3o6 


THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 


Arco,  Castle  of,  202 
Areola,  battle  of,  203 
Arduin  of  Ivrea,  152 
Arezzo,  7,  158 

Niccolo  d',  102 
Argegno,  47,  49 
Aribert,  Archbishop,  loi,    102, 

167 
Ariminum.     See  Rimini 
Ariosto,  114,  209,  288 

birth  of,  284,  285 
Arlotti,  Bishop  Buonfrancesco, 

285 
Arnold  of  Brescia,  185,  186 
Arona,  32,  34 
Aspertus,      Bishop,       rebuilds 

Milan,  87,  97 
Assisi,  S,  Francesco,  139 
Asta,  battle  of,  23 
Asti,  68,  69 
Ataulphus,  marriage  of,  94 

tomb  of,  93 
Atilius,  Lucius,  245 
Attila  invades  Italy,  21,  24,  59, 

149,  185,  203,  269,  289, 

301 
Augsburg,  301 
Augustus  Caesar  conquers  the 

Inalpini,   5,   14,   15,   16, 

148,  269 
founds  the  Empire,  4,  17 
Austrians,    the,  in    Piedmont, 

187,  202-204,  209,  219 
rule  in  Lombardy,  77-79 
Autharis,  King,  162-164 
Averoldo,  Altobello  di,  193 
Avignon,  68 

Auxentius,  Bishop  of  Milan,  84 
Azzo  da  Correggio,  300,  301 

Bacchiacca,  179 

Badile,  197 

Bagnolo,  223 

Baise,  40 

Balducci,  Matteo,  his  work  in 

Bergamo,  180 
Balduccio,     Giovanni    di,    his 

work   in    Milan,    95-97, 

107  note,  159 
Bandinelli,  Baccio,  180 
Bangor,  259 
Barbarossa,  Frederick,  destroys 

Milan,  81,  95 


Barbarossa,  Frederick,  invades 
Italy,    45,    63-66,    130, 
166,  167,  186,  224,  238- 
241,  270 
Barbiano,  Alberigo  da,  69 
Barcelona,  94 
Barnaba  da  Modena,  294 
Basaiti,  Marco,  180 
Basella,  175 
Basle,  269 
Battagio,  Giovanni,  236,  237, 

241 
Baveno,  32,  34 
Bayard,  Chevalier,  186 
Beatrice  of  Canossa,  209 

of  Lorraine,  299 
Beauharnais,    Eugdne   de,    77, 

213,  214 
Beaune,  129 
Becket,  Thomas  a,  303 
Begarelli,  Antonio,  291,  292 
Belisarius,  25,  27,  59 
Bellaggio,  39,  40,  45,  46 
Bellavista,  29 
Bellini,    Gentile,    his   work   in 

Milan,  124 
Bellini,  Giovanni,  121,  125 
his  work  in  Bergamo,   177, 

180 
his  work  in  Mantua,  213 
his  work  in  Milan,  124 
school  of ,  175,  177,  178 
Bellini,  Jacopo,  194 

his  school,  118,  119 
Bellinzona,  42 

Bembo,   Cardinal,  in  Mantua^ 
209,  213 
on  Castiglione,  220 
Gian  Francesco,  230 
Benacus,  197 

Benedetto  da  Maiano,  182 
Benedictine  Order,  the,  136 
Benevento,  26 
Benzi,  the,  51 
Benzone  of  Cremona,  174 
Berengarius,  167 
Berenger,  King,  152,  298 
Berenson,  B.,  on  Borgognone, 
122 
at  Castiglione,  55 
on    the    Morelli    Collection, 
179,  182 
Bergamesque  Alps,  1 83 


INDEX 


307 


Bergamo,  68 

Accademia  Carrara,  176-182 

Attila  at,  24 

Bishop  of,  28 

Cappella  Colleoni,  1 71-175 

Cenomani  in,  6 

Churches  of,  175 

Citti  Alta,  169,  170 

Citta  Bassa,  169,  170 

history  of,  170 

S.  Maria  Maggiore,  1 71-174 
Bernardino  da  Novi,  146 
Bernese  Oberland,  29 
Bertani,  212 
Bertha,  302 

Bertolino  da  Novara,  215 
Bianchi,    Francesco,   his  work 

in  Modena,  292,  293 
Bianchini,  273 
Biandronno,  53 
Bianello,  299,  300,  302 
Bibbiano,  299 
Bishops,  temporal  power  of 

the,  28,  60-62 
Bisi,  Gasparo,  286 
Bismarck,  297 
Bizzozero,  54 

Blanchis,     Andreolo     de,     his 
work  at  Bergamo,  173, 

174 
Bobbio,  Abbey  of,  69,  258-261 
Boccaccino  of  Cremona,    Boc- 
caccio,   227,    229,    230, 

295 
Boccaccio,  Decameron,  209,  214 
Boethius,  157,  189 
Bohemia,  II  Medeghino,  Vice- 
roy of,  42-44 
Boiardi,  Antonia,  285 
Boiardo,  288 

Boii,  the,  6-12,  222,  237,  288 
Bologna,  Boii  in,  6 

bought  by  Milan,  69 

coronation  of  Charles  v.  at, 

75 
founded  by  Rome,  13 
S.  Domenico,  158 
Bolognese  school  of  art,  125 
Boltrafho,  his  work  in  Milan, 

123 
Bonacolsi,  the,  208,  212,  289 
Bona  di  Savoia,  72 
Bonascia,  Bartolommeo,  294 


Bonifazio  of  Tuscany,  125,  209 
Bono  da  Bisone,  273 
Bono,  Placido  del,  279 
Bonsignori  da  Verona,  177,  180 
Bordone,  Paris,  178 
Borgia,  Cesare,  213 

Lucrezia,  114 
Borgognone,  264 

his  work  at  Bergamo,    170, 
176,  177,  181 

his  work  in  Milan,  115,  121, 
122 

his  work  at  Pavia,  141,  143, 

145-147 
Borgo  S.  Donnino,  68,  263,  266, 

270 
Bormio,  42 

Borromean  Islands,  the,  33 
Borromeo,  Cardinal   Federigo, 
75,87,114 
family,  the,  34,  42,  75 
Boschetti,  Isabella,  216 
Boston,  179 

Botticelli,  Sandro,  his  work  in 
Bergamo,  179 
his    work    in    Milan,     115, 

127 
his  work  at  Piacenza,  253 
Botticini,  Francesco,  179,  296 
Bourbon,  Constable,  73,  220 
Bozzolo,  220 

Braccio  da  Montone,  174 
Bragaglia,  the,  39 
Bragerio,  Bartolino,  226 
Bramante  d'  Urbino,  his  work 
in  Como,  50 
his  work  m  Milan,  73,  92,  107, 

112,  115 
his  work  in  Piacenza,   251, 

252 
school  of,  158,  236 
Bramantino,  146 
Breakspear,  Nicholas,  186 
Brenner  Pass,  the,  16,  17  note 
Brescia,  64  note,  68,  70,   145, 
240, 
Attila  at,  24 
Cenomani  in,  6 
churches    and    pictures    of, 

188-195 
history  of ,  185-187,  195,  224 
painters  of,  123 
Brescian  Alps,  183 


3o8 


THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 


Brioschi,  Bernardino  de,  146 
Brivio,  Francesco,  122 
Bronzino,  180 
Brunate,  49 
Bninichildis,  162 
Brusasorci,  197,  212 
Brutus,  Marcus,  222,  269,  283 
Buonacolsi,    the,    in    Mantua, 

208,  212,  289 
Busentino,  the,  94 
Busi,    Giovanni,    his    work   in 

Bergamo,  177,  181 
Busseto,  265 
Busti,    Agostino,    his   work   in 

Milan,  102,  103,  107 
Butinone,   his  work  in  Milan, 

121,  122 
Byron,  Lord,  37 

Cadalo,  Bishop,  269,  270,  272 

Cadenabbia,  39,  46 

Cadeo,  265 

Cagliari,  158,  159 

Caleppio,  184 

Calisto,  197 

Calisto  Piazza  da   Lodi,   236, 

241 
Calvisano,  216 
Cambray,  186 
Campania,  battle  of,  25 
Camperio,  Giacomo  da,  226 
Campi,  Bernardo,  286 

Giulio     of     Cremona,     228- 

233,  295 
Campiglione,  Giovanni  da,  172, 

173 

Campione,  Bonnino  di,  159 

his  work  in  Milan,  97,  107 
Campione,  Enrico  da,  291 
Campione,  Matteo  di,  50,  159 
his    work    at   Monza,    164, 

165 

Campione,  Ugo  da,  173,  174 

Campori  Collection,  the,  292 

Cane,  Facino,  69 

Caninius  Rufus,  46 

Cannae,  battle  of,  1 1 

Cannobbio,  36,  49 

Canossa,    Henry    iv.    at,    270, 

297-303 
Countess  Matilda,  208,  209, 
269,  270,  289,  290,  297, 
299-303 


Canossa,  Counts  of,  208,  209, 

289,  298 
Azzo,  298 
Bonifazio,  298,  300 
Sigifredo,  298 
Tebaldo,  298 
Canterbury,  303 
Cantu,  quoted,  166  note 
Capolago,  29 
Caracci,  Ludovico,   250 
Caracciolo,    Cardinal    Marino, 

103 
Caravaggio,  Benedetto,  177 
Carducci,  199 
Carelli,  Marco,  102 
Cariani,  his  work  in  Bergamo, 

176,  177,  181 
Carinus,  96 
Carlo    Alberto    of    Piedmont, 

28,  78,  219 
Carlos,  Don,  King  of  Naples, 

271,  276 
Carmagnola,  70 
Caroline  of  Brunswick,  Queen, 

49 
Caroto,    Francesco,    176,    180, 

212,  296 
Carpaccio,  his  work  in  Milan, 

125 
school  of,  177 
Carpi,  Girolamo  da,  295 
Carponetti,  299 
Carrara,  Conte  Giacomo,  176 
Carraresi,  the,  68  note,  69 
Carrocci,  Agostino,  279 
Carthaginians,  the,  in  conflict 

with  Rome,  11,  12 
Carthusian  Order,  the,  136,  137 
Cartwright,    Julia,    Isabella   d' 

Este,  210  note,  213  note, 

217 
Casalano,  Bishop  Sicardo,  225 
Casale  Pusterlengo,  243 
Casalmaggiore,  232,  233 
Casio,   Girolamo,   his  work  in 

Milan,  123 
Cassano,  Bridge  of,  186 
Castello  Costa  di  Mezzate,  184 
Malpaga,  183 
Marcaria,  220 
Castellucchio,  220 
Castiglione  d'  Olona,  35,  52-56, 

204,  205 


INDEX 


309 


Castiglione,    Baldassare,    213, 
220 

Cardinal  Branda  da,  54,  55 

family,  the,  54 
Castignola,  31,  39 
Catena,  296 
Cathari,  the,  95,  131-5 
Cato  the  elder,  on  the  Gauls,  6 
Catullus,  birth  of,  18 

quoted,  185,  197-199 
Cavazzola,  181 
Cavour  in  Stresa,  32 

quoted,  204 
Cellini,  Benvenuto,  180,  220 
Cenomani,  the,  6-13,  185,  207 
Certosa  of  Pavia,  136-147 
Cesano,  52 

Charlemagne,     coronation    of, 
166 

invades  Italy,  149-152,  157, 
165,  269 

re-establishes  the  Empire,  4, 
16,  27,  28,  59,  60 
Charles  11.,  272 
Charles  iii.,  272 
Charles  iv.,  153 
Charles  v.,  coronation  of,  166 

in  Milan,  74,  75 

invades  Italy,  44,  153,  220, 
265,  285 
Charles  vi..  Emperor,  76 
Charles  viii.  invades  Italy,  73- 

75,  280-2 
Charles  Albert,  28,  78,  219 
Charles  Emmanuel  iii.,  76 
Charles  of  Anjou,  247 
Charterhouse,  London,  138 
Chartreuse,  Grande,  136,  137 
Chiaravalle,  128-136,  155 

della  Columba,  265 
Chiavenna,  42,  43 
Childebert,  King  of  Austrasia, 

162 
Chiudino,  184 

Chiusi,  sacked  by  the  Gauls,  9 
Chlodosinda,  162 
Christianity  the  soul  of  armies, 

21 
Chrysopolis,  269 
Ciano,  297,  298,  300 
Cicero,  259  note,  289 
Cildo,  300 
Cima,  his  work  in  Bergamo,  180 


Cima,  his  work  in  Milan,  124 
his  work  in  Modena,  296 
his  work  at  Parma,  277 
Cisa  Pass,  the,  280 
Cisalpine     Gaul.     See     Lom- 

bardy.  Plain  of 
Republic,  76,  77 
Cistercian  Order,  the,  129,  130, 

136 
Citeaux,  129 
Civerchio,  181,  197,  236 

his  work  at  Brescia,  188,  192, 

194 
Clairvaux,  S.  Bernard  at,  128, 

129 
Claudian,  quoted,  40 
Claudius,  Caius,  289 

Emperor,     constructs     the 

Brenner  Pass,  16 
Clement  vii..  Pope,  75,  278 
Clementi,    Bartolommeo,    285, 

286,  292 
Prospero,  211,  285,  286 
Clugny,  Hugh,  Abbot  of,  299, 

302 
Cluniac    Abbot    of    Molesme, 

Robert,  129,  136 
Cluny,  129 
Clusium.     See  Chiusi 
Cocai,  Merlin,  198 
Codogno,  143 
Col  di  Tenda,  32 
Colico,  39,  40,  41,  43 
CoUeoni,     Bartolommeo,     1 74, 

175.  183 
Cologne,    Cathedral,    65   note, 

95.  136 
Columbus,      Christopher,      at 

Pavia,  157 
Comabbio,  53 
Commachio,  27 
Commune,  the,  rise  of,  60-62 
Como,  31,  39,  40>  45,  49,  63, 

68,  224 
Duomo  of,  49-51 
S.  Fedele,  155 
taken  by  Rome,  12 
Concordia,  24 
Conegliano,  252 
Conrad  the  Salic,  152,  302 
Conrad  11.,  269 
Consentia,  94 
Constance,  Diet  of,  239 


310 


THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 


Constance,   Peace  of,  66,  167, 

251,  270,  284 
Constance,  Queen  of  Bohemia, 

132 
Constantine,  Emperor,  289 
crosses  the  Alps,  16 
in  Milan,  19,  58 
Constantinople,  20 
Cordoba,  Gonsalvo  da,  73 
Corenno,  31,  42 
Corio,  73 

Correggio,  his  work  in  Mantua, 
213 
his  work  in  Milan,  125 
his  work  in  Modena,  294 
his    work    in    Parma,    268, 

271-279 
school  of,  287 
Correggio  family,  the,  68  note, 
270 
Giberto  da,  270 
Cortemaggiore,  265 
Corteolona,  152 
Cortine,  199 
Cossa,  his  work  in  Milan,  119, 

120 
Costa,    Lorenzo,    his   work   in 
Mantua,  211,  213,  214 
his  work  in  Milan,  119,  120 
Cotignola,  71,  104 
Cottian   Alps,    passes    of,    16, 

17  note 
Cottius,  Prince  of  Susa,  16 
Credi,  Lorenzo  di,  179 
Crema,  64  note,  68,  171,  234 
history  of,  224,  238 
pictures  of,  236 
Cremona,  26,  63,  68,  171,  207, 
250,  272,  295 
buildings  of,  225-233 
Cenomani  in,  6 
history  of,   10-13,   67,   221- 
225,  232,  238-240,  244, 
270 
school  of  painting,  181,  229 
Crespi,  147 

Crivelli,    Carlo,    his    work    in 
Bergamo,  177 
his  work  in  Milan,  124 
Crivelli,  Lucrezia,  107 
Crowe  and  Cavalcaselle,  History 
of    Painting    in    Italy, 
quoted,  55,  230 


Curtatone,  219 

Cust,  Mr.,  on  Sodoma,  286 

Custozza,  battle  of,  78 

Dante,  299 

Danube,  the,  21 

Delia  Torre,  family  of,  at 
Milan,  67 

Desenzano,  197,  198,  200 

Desiderius,  King,  1 49-1 51,  165, 
199 

Desio,  67 

Dickens,  Charles,  on  Mantua, 
206,  207 

Diocletian,  Emperor,  his  parti- 
tion of  the  Empire,  19, 
21,  58 

Dolabella,  P.  Cornelius,  defeats 
the  Senones,  7 

Domenico,  Fra,  96 

Domodossola,  32 

Donatello,    his    work    in    Ber- 
gamo, 182 
school  of ,  107,  118,  119 

Dossi,  Battista,  295 

Dossi,  Dosso,  125 

his  work  in  Mantua,  213 
his  work  in  Modena,  291, 

294.  295 
Dresden,  253 
Drusus,  16,  148 
Duccio,  Agostino  di,  116,  291 

Edward  hi.,  69 
Elizabeth,  Queen,  249 
Embriachi,    Baldassare    degli, 

145 
Emilia,  province  of,  4,  76,  243, 

262,  289 
Erasmus,  278 
Eremitani  di  S.  Agostino,  the, 

159-161 
Erri,  Agnolo  and  Bartolommeo, 

294 
Escorial,  the,  140 
Este,     the,     of     Ferrara,     69, 
289 
Alfonso  d',  295 
Azzo  d',  302 
Beato  Contardo  d',  295 
Beatrice  d',  72,  130,  144 
Ercole  iii.  d',  284,  295 
Francis  d',  portrait  of,  296 


INDEX 


311 


Este,  Isabella  d',  in  Mantua, 
213-218 

Leonello  d',  180 

Niccol6  d',  271,  284,  300 

Obizzo  d',  289 
Etruscans,  the,  in  Lombardy,  5 

march  on  Rome,  8 
Eugdne  of  Savoy,  Prince,  76 
Everelina,  300 
Ezzelino  da  Romano,  6^,  167 

at  Brescia,  186 

at  Cremona,  225 

at  Mantua,  208 

Fabriano,  126 
Faesulae.     See  Fiesole 
Fano,  27 
Farinata,  212 
Farinati,  Paolo,  201 
Farnese,    the,    243,    271,    276, 
282 
Alessandro,  249,  277 
Ottavio,  249,  271,  276 
Pierluigi,  lord  of  Parma  and 
Piacenza,  248,  249,  253, 
271 
Ranuccio,  249,  271,  276 
Federigo   11.   of   Mantua,   216, 

217 
Ferdinand,  King  of  Naples,  280 
Ferramola,  197,  236 

his    work    at    Brescia,    188, 
192 
Ferrara,  27,  252 
the  Este  of,  69 
Lingones  in,  6 
Peace  of,  186 
Ferrarese   school   of   painting, 

119,  I77»  293 
Ferrari,    Gaudenzio,    his  work 
in    Lombardy,    36,    51, 
56,  123,  143 
Fidentia,  266 
Fiesole,  battles  at,  9,  23 
Fino,  52 

Fiordibelli,  Giroldo,  285 
Fiorentino,  Pier  Francesco,  1 79 
Fiorenza  di  Lorenzo,  180 
Fiorenzuola,  265 
Flaminian  Way,  10,  262 
Flaminius,  C,  9 
Florence,  at  war  with  Milan, 
69,  71 


Florence,  Certosa,  138 

expels  the  Medici,  108 

Or  San  Michele,  158 

S.  Casciano,  96 
Foix,  Gaston  de,  73,   74,    107, 

115,  153,  186 
Folengo,  Teofilo,  198 
Fontaines,  260 
Fontana,  146 

Fredda,  265 
Foppa,  Vincenzo,  his  influence, 

143 
his  work  at  Bergamo,   176, 

177,  181 
his    work    at    Brescia,    188, 

192,  193 
his  work  in  Milan,  97,  121 
Forli,  96 
Fornovo,  74 

battle  of,  279-282 
Foro  di  S.  Alessandro,  171 
Francesca,     Piero     della,     his 
work  in  Milan,  126,  127 
Francia  of  Bologna,  120,  277 
Franciabigio,  296 
Francis  i.   defeated  at  Pavia, 

153 

invades  Italy,  43,  107,  247 

occupies  Milan,  74 
Francis  v.,  292 
Franks  invade  Italy,  25,  28 
Frederick  11.,  270 

besieges  Brescia,  186 

in  Cremona,  225 

threatens  Milan,  67 
Fredi,  Maestro,  172 
Freundesberg,  7 
Friuli,  26,  152 
Frizzoni,  Signor,  178 
Fromentone  of  Vicenza,  189 
Fronto,  Cornelius,  259 

Gabloneta,  Rufino,  286 

Gaddi,  Agnolo,  179 

Gaiseric  invades  Italy,  24 

Galerani,  Cecilia,  107 

Galileo,  114 

Galla    Placidia,    Empress,    94, 

189 
Gallic  wars,  the,  5 
Gallio,      Marchese      Giacomo, 

51 
Gattamelata,  175 


312 


THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 


Gatti,  Bernardo,  228 

Garda,  202,  203 

Gardner,      Edmund,      quoted, 

295 
Gardone,  201 
Gargnano,  201 

Garibald,  Duke  of  the  Bavar- 
ians, 163 
Garibaldi  at  Solferino,  204 
Garofalo,  295 

Gauls  invade  Lombardy,  5 
Gazza,  Bartolommeo,  233 
Geneva,  lake  of,  40 
Genoa,  12,  14,  204 

Duchess  of,  32 
Gentile    da    Fabriano,    school 
of,  117 

his  work  in  Milan,  126 
George  iv.,  49 
Gera,  9 

Germanicus,  Emperor,  148 
Ghibellines,    Guelphs    at    war 
with,  67,  68,  208,  224, 
270 
Ghirlandi,  Fra  Vittore,  176 
Giarola,  281 

Gibbon,  Edward,  quoted,  16 
Giolfino,  Niccolo,  181 
Giorgione,  school  of,  125,  177, 

294 
Giotto,  233 

his  influence  in  Milan,   116, 
117,  120,  179 
Giovio,  Paolo,  46,  217 
Girolamo  dai  Libri,  181 
Gisalberto,  Abbot,  97 
Gisulphus,  265 
Gmiind,  Arler  di,  99 
Goito,  205 

Gonzaga  family,  the,  68  note, 
69 

at  Mantua,  208-218 

Barbara,  215 

Ercole,  287 

Federigo,  215-217 

Ferdinando,  209 

Francesco,  215-217,  219 

Guglielmo,  212 

Guido,  208 

Ludovico,  215 

Luigi,  208,  209,  284 

tombs  of,  220 
Gorlago,  184 


Gotard,  255-258 
Goths  invade  Italy,  19 
Gottesaldi,  275 
Gozzoli,  Benozzo,  126 
Graian  Alps,  6,  16,  17  note 
Gratian,  269,  284 
Gravedona,  31,  41,  43 
Graziosa,  Bishop,  269 
Grazzano,  258 
Great  St.  Bernard  Pass,  6,  16, 

17  note,  150 
Gregorio,  Bishop  of  Bergamo, 

172 
Gregory  vii..  Pope,  at  Canossa, 

164-168,  297 
Grenoble,  136 
Gries  Pass,  16 
Griffo,  Leonardo,  his  work  at 

Castiglione,  55 
Grisons,  the,  37,  42,  43 
Grotte,  199 
Grumello,  184 
Gualtiero  of  Cremona,  Bishop, 

225 
Guardasone,  300 
Guardi,  178 
Guarnerius,  233 
Guastalla,  270,  272,  287 
Guelphs.     See  Ghibellines 
Guercino,  250 
Guicciardini,  281  note 
Guido,  Archbishop,  56,  62 
Guglielmina,    heresies,    of    96, 

131-135 
Gundiberg,  165 

Hadrian,  Emperor,  16 

Hadrian  IV.,  Pope,  149-152, 186 

Hals,  Franz,  182 

Hamilcar,  12 

Handel,  115 

Hannibal,  his  invasion  of  Italy, 

3,  10-12,  16,  148,  221, 

222,  244,  288,  298 
Harding,  Stephen,  129 
Hasdrubal,  defeat  of,  11,  12 
Haynau,  187 
Henry  11.,  Emperor,  152 
Henry  iii.,  Emperor,  269,  298 
Henry  IV,,  Emperor,  at  Canossa, 

270,  297-303 
Henry  vii.,  Emperor,  68,   167, 

225 


INDEX 


313 


Herulian  revolt,  the,  24 
Hildebrand,  Pope,  61,  62,  297, 

299,  302 
Hinton  Charterhouse,  147 
Hippo,  24,  158,  159 
Holbein,  278 
Honorius,  Emperor,  94,  189 

flees  from  Milan,  19,  23,  59 
Honorius  11.,  Pope,  269 
Hunnish  invasion  of  Italy,  24 

Iberian  troops,  Hannibal's,  10, 
II 

lUyrian  tribes,  15 
II  Medeghino,  42-44 
Inalpini,  the,  5,  15 
Innocent  11.,  Pope,  250 
Innocent  iv..  Pope,  96 
Insubres,  the,  6-13,  58,  222 
Intra,  34,  35 
Isabella     Clara     Eugenia     of 

Spain,  278 
Iseo,  197 
Isola  Bella,  33,  34 

Comacina,  46,  47,  50 

dei  Pescatori,  33 

Madre,  33,  34 
Isolfo,  Bishop,  209 
Isonzo,  the,  25 

Italy,  its  relation  to  Europe,  3 
Ivrea,  152 

John  of  Bohemia,  270 
John  XXII.,  Pope,  270 
Joseph  II.,  Emperor,  139,  158 
Julia,  266 

Julian  Alps,  the,  19,  20,  23,  26 
Julier  Pass,  the,  16,  17  note 
Julius  II.,  74 
Jungfrau,  the,  32 
Justina,  Empress,  86 
Justinian,  Emperor,  25 
Juvara,  210 

Lago  di  Bolsena,  battle  of,  8 
Como,  31,  39,  45,  53 
Garda,  4,  196-203,  298 
Iseo,  196 
Lecco,  39 
Lugano,  30,  37 
Maggiore,  31 
Monate,  32 
Orta,  31 


Lago  Superiore,  219 
Varese,  32,  53 

Lake  Vadimon,  8 

Lampadms,  189 

Lampagnani,  72 

Lanfranc,  Archbishop  of  Can- 
terbury, 157,  290 

Lannoy,  73 

Latium,  Gallophobia  in,  7 

La  Turbie,  15 

Lautrec,  73,  153 

Laveno,  35 

Lazise,  203 

Lecco,  39,  40,  43-45 
Count  of,  42-44 

Lechi,  200 

Le  Fosse,  223 

Legnano,  battle  of,  66 

Leinster,  259 

Le  I  sole,  223 

Lendinaria,  Cristoforo  da,  292, 
294 

Lenno,  41,  46 

Leo,  Pope,  turns  back  Attila, 
21,  24,  203,  248,  271 

Leoben,  203 

Leoni,  Leone,  his  tomb  of  II 
Medeghino,  44 
his  work  in  Milan,  102 

Lepontine  Alps,  16 

Leyva,  Antonio  de,  73,  75 

Lezzono,  46 

Liberale,    his   work   in   Milan, 
125 
school  of,  180,  181 

Libyan  troops,  Hannibal's,  11 

Licinius  Sera,  48 

Liema,  44 

Ligures,  the,  10 

Liguria,  province  of,  5 

Limone,  202 

Limonta,  44 

Lingones,  the,  6,  9 

Lippi,  Fra  Lippo,  179 

Little    St    Bernard    Pass,    6, 
17  note 
Hannibal  crosses  by,  10,  16 

Liutprand,  King,  159 

Livy,  quoted,  5,  7,  58 

Locarno,  31,  36 
Loches,  144 
Lochis,  Conte,  176 
Lodi,  224 


314 


THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 


Lodi,  Bishop  of,  28 

Lodi,  churches  of,  241,  242 

history  of,  63,  65,  68,  237- 
242 

Vecchio,  237 
Lombard  architecture,  154 

League,    65,    66,    224,    251, 
289 

school  of  painting,  116 
Lombards,  the,  invade    Italy, 

20,  26-28,  47,  64 
Lombardy,  plain  of,  5,  18 

iron  crown  of,  162,  165-168 

its  ethnography,  3 

its  relation   to  Italy,   2,    3, 

14 
Longhi,  Pietro,  180 
Lorenzetti,  Pietro,  127 
Lorenzo  da  Pavia,  213 
Lo  Spagna,  127 
Lothair,     King    of    Italy,     at 

Milan,  60 
Lotto,  Lorenzo,  183,  184 

his  work  at  Bergamo,   169, 

170,  176,  178 
his  work  in  Milan,  125 
Louis  VII.,  129 
Louis  XII.,  74,  153,  271 
Louis  of  Bavaria,  68,  208,  270 
Louise  of  Savoy,  153 
Lovere,  197 
Lozza,  54 
Lucca,  175 
Lucifer,  Bishop,  85 
Lucius  III.,  Pope,  290 
Lucius  Furius,  222 
Ludovico  il  Moro,  portrait  of, 

143.  144 
Lugano,  29,  31,  38,  39,  42 
Luino,  31,  35-37 
Luini,   Bernardo,   his  work  in 
Como,  51 
his  work  in  Lugano,  39 
his  work  in  Luino,  36 
his  work  in  Milan,  115,  123 
his  work  at  Pavia,  141,  143, 

145 

his  work  in  Saronno,  56 

his  school,  i8i 
LuneviUe,  Peace  of,  284 
Luther,  Martin,  36 
Luxeuil,  260 
Lyons,  77 


Maderno,  146,  201 
Madonna  del  Frassine,  203 

del  Monte,  53 

della  Pace,  45 

del  Sasso,  36 

del  Soccorso,  46 
Magenta,  battle  of,  79,  204 
Maggia,  the,  32 
Maggiore,  38 
Magi,   tomb   of   the,   65   note, 

95 
Mago,  12,  246 
Maguzzano,  198 
Malaguzzi,  Valerio,  285 
Malatesta,  Pandolfo,  171 
Malcesine,  202 
Malpaga,  Castle  of,  183 
Manerba,  200 
Manichees,  the,  131 
Manlius,  Lucius,  245 
Mantegazza,     Antonio     and 

Cristoforo,  142 
Mantegna,  Andrea,  176,  180 

his    work    in    Mantua,    210, 
213,  215,  218 

his  work  in  Milan,  118,  119 
Mantegna,  Francesco,  his  work 

in  Mantua,  210 
Mantovano,  Rinaldo,  218 
Mantua,  120,  254,  303 

churches  of,  209-212 

forlornness  of,  206,  218 

history  of,  5,  6,  26,  68  note, 
69,  203,  207-209,  219 

Marquis  of,  282 

palaces  of,  212-218 

Virgil's  birthplace,  206,  208 
Manzone,   Fabio,   his  work  in 

Milan,  114 
Marcellus,  M.  Claudius,  9 

Marcus,  58 
Marches,  the,  262 
Marchigiani,  the,  233 
Marcignago,  63 
Marenzio,  237,  274 
Maria  Luisa,  Empress,  271 
Maria  Theresa,  Empress,  158 
Marignano,  battle  of,  74,  141, 

146 
Mariotto,  Bernardino,  180 
Maritime  Alps,  Coast  Road,  16, 

17  note 
Marius,  21,  266 


INDEX 


315 


Marlborough,   John,   Duke  of, 

76 
Marmirolo,  205 
Maroggia,  50 
Marseilles,  14,  151,  264 
Martial,  269 

Martinenghi,  the,  183,  200 
Masolino,  his  work  at  Castig- 

lione,  54,  55 
Mattel,  Cristoforo  de',  145 
Mavino,  199,  200 
Maxentius,  289 
Maximian,  Emperor,  266 
Maximilian,  Archduke,  78 

Emperor,  72,  280 
Maximus  Hercules,  in  Milan,  19, 

58 
Mayfreda,  Papessa,  133,  134 
Mazzardi  family,  the,  36 
Mazzolino,  230 
Meda,   Giuseppe,   his  work  in 

Milan,  114 
Medea,  175 
Medici  family,  the,  44,  108 

Alessandro  de',  180 

Gabriele  de',  102 

Gian  Giacomo,  42-44 

Giovanni  Angelo,  42 

Giuliano  de',  179 

II  Medeghino,  42-4,  102 

Lorenzo  de*,  213 
Mediolanian,     See  Milan 
Medo,  58 
Mddole,  205 
Melone,  227 
Melpum,  5 
Melzi,  the,  77,  142 
Menaggio,  37,  39,  44,  45 
Merula,  73 
Metaurus,  the,  11 
Metellus,  L.  Caecilius,  relieves 

Arezzo,  7 
Metz,  152 

Michelangelo,  213,  271,  285 
Michele  da  Verona,   his  work 

in  Milan,  125 
Michelozzo,  his  work  in  Milan, 

95.  97.  107 
Milan,  Ambrosian  Library,  114, 

115 
Austrian  rule  in,  76-79 
Borromean  influence  in,  75, 

76 


Milan,  Brera,  107,  1 18-127 
Castello  of  the  Sforza,  104- 

108,  121 
commercial    importance    of, 

80,  116, 
destroyed  by  Goths,  24,  25, 

59.65 
Duomo,   44,  70,  77,  98-103, 

139.  144 
her  relations  with  Cremona, 

224,  238 
history  of,  9,  15,  19,  24,  58- 

79 
II  Medeghino  of,  42-44,  102 
Insubres  in,  6,  9 
in  the  Cinquecento,  11 3-1 16 
Napoleon  i.,  in,  76,  77,  203 
Palazzo  della  Ragione,  97 
power  of  the  bishops  in,  60- 

62 
rebuilt  by  Bishop  Anspert,  60 
republic  of,  62-64,  66,  71 
Roman     columns,     81,     82, 

91-93 
S.  Ambrogio,   82,  86-91,  93, 

115,  155,  168 
S.  Ambrose,  Bishop  of,  83-91 
S.  Babila,  97 

S.  Carlo,  Archbishop  of,  34 
S.     Eustorgio,     95-97,     121, 

158-160 
SS.  Gervasius  and  Protasius, 

87 
S.  Lorenzo,  91-95 
S.  Maria  delle  Grazie,    108- 

113.  144 
S.  Nazaro,  104 
S.  Satiro,  97,  112 
S.  Vincenzo  in  Prato,  97 
S.  Vittore,  88 
under  the  Sforza,  71-74,  103- 

108,  113 
under  the  Visconti,  67-70 
Mirandola,  297 
Modena,   204,    225,    238,   243, 

247,  263,  283 
Albergo  Arti,  292-296 
Bishop  of,  28 
buildings  of,  290-292 
Duchy  of,  4,  5 
history  of,  10,  13,  24,  27,  268, 

284,  288-290 
Treaty  of,  167 


3i6 


THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 


Molesme,  Abbot  of,  129,  136 
Molza,  Francesco,  292 
Mommsen,  Theodor,  quoted,  10 

note,  15  note,  16,  246 
Monaco,  15 
Monaco,  Lorenzo,  his  work  in 

Bergamo,  179 
Monate,  53 
Mongiovanni,  299 
Monselice,  26 

Montagna,  Bartolommeo,  146, 
296 

his  work  in  Bergamo,  127 

his  work  in  Milan,  125 
Montalto,  Barbara  di,  37 
Mont  Cenis,  the,  16,  150,  302 
Monte  Cassino,  259 

Cervano,  53 

del  Castello,  184 

Generoso,  view  from,  29-31, 
37.  38,  57 
Monteghezzone,  241 
Monte  Lucio,  299 

Motterone,  32,  35 

Rosa,  32,  53,  171 

Salvatore,  39 

Vecchio,  299 

Viso,  32,  53,  171 
Montf errat.  Marquis  of,  68  note, 

69,  217 
Mont    Genevre     Pass,     16,    17 

note 
Mont'  Isola,  196 
Montpelier,  253 
Monza,  59,  65  note 

coronations  in,  162,  165-168 

history  of ,  162,  165,  167 

S.  John  Baptist,  164-168 

S.  Michele,  250 

Theodolinda  at,  162-167 
Moore,   Sturge,    Correggio,   278 

note 
Morcote,  31,  39, 
Morelli,  Giovanni,  178 

on  Pordenone,  252 
Moretto,  his  work  in  Bergamo, 
176,  177,  181,  184 

his  work  at  Brescia,  188, 190- 
194 

his  work  in  Milan,  123 
Morigia,  Buonincontro,  164 
Morignano,  Marquis  of,  42-44 
Moro,  Antonio,  277 


Morone,    Domenico,   181,   197, 

230 
Moroni,  Francesco,  his  work  in 

Bergamo,  170,  176,  181 
his  work  in  Milan,  115,  123, 

124 
Moroni,  Giovanni  Battista,  184, 

197 
Mozzanica,  battle  of,  71 
Muratori  on  Guglielmina,    131 

note,  132  note,  135 
Musso,  Marquis  of,  42-44 
Mutina.     See  Modena 

Nani,  Sebastiano,  226 
Naples,  27 

Charles  viii.  claims,  73,  74 
Napoleon  i.,  278 

at  Pavia,  154 

coronation  of,  166 

crosses  the  Alps,  16,  76,  77 

defeats  the  Austrians,   202, 
203,  241,  242 

enters  Milan,  76,  77,  100 

in  Mantua,  203,  214 
Napoleon  iii.  enters  Milan,  79 
Narbonne,  94 
Narses,  25,  27,  223 
National  Gallery,  London,  142, 

143.  287 
Naviglio,  the,  64 
Nero,  C.  Claudius,  defeats  Has- 

drubal,  11 
Nesso,  47 

Newman,    Cardinal,  90 
Niccolo  da  Foligno,  180 
Nice,  202 
Nicolaus,  290 
Niel,  Marshal,  205 
Nobiallo,  45 
Novara,  64  note,  68,  74,  114, 

238 
Novellara,  287,  297, 
Nufenen  Pass,  the,  16 

Odoacer,    crushed    by    Theo- 

doric,  24,  25 
Olano,  58 

Oldrado  da  Lampugnano,  144 
Olger,  King,  150 
Olgiate,  52 
Olgiati,  72 
Ombrone,  the,  9 


INDEX 


317 


Orazio,  Pomponeo,  205 
Oria,  31,  39 

Orsenigo,  Simone  da,  98,  99 
Orsi,  Bernardino,  287 
Lelio,  286,  287,  297 
Ortler,  the,  32 
Orto,  Pietro  dell',  56 
Orvieto,  26 

Ostrogoths  invade  Italy,  19,  24 
Otho,  Emperor,  298 
Othoi.,  152 
Otho  III,,  166 

Paderno,  225 

Padua,  Arena  Chapel,  233 

burnt  by  Attila,  24 

seized  by  the  Lombards,  26 

S.  Giustina,  118 

under  the  Carraresi,  68  note, 
69 
Paduan  school  of  art,  118 
Palavicini,  Oberto,  67 
Palazzuola,  184 
Paleologa,  Maria,  217 
Palestrina,  237 
Palladio,  189 
Pallanza,  34 

Pallavicini,  the,  265,  270 
Pallavicino,  Uberto,  247 
Palma  Giovane,  201 
Palma  Vecchio,  school  of,  127 

his  work  in  Bergamo,  178 
Palomino,  296 
Paola  da  Modena,  Fra,  294 
Paolo,  Giovanni  di,  296 
Papus,  L.  iEmilius,  9 
Parenzano,  Bernardo,  230 
Paris,  S.  Denis,  140 
Parkminster,  138 
Parma,  164,  204,  224,  225,  238, 
263,  264 

bishop  of,  28,  266,  269 

Correggio's  work  at,  272-279 

Duomo,  272 

history  of,  6,  13,  25,  247,  248, 
268-272,  284 

province  of,  4,  5 
Parmigianino,  276,  278 
Parmigiano,  197 
Patarini,  the,  62,  200 
Pater,  Walter,  236 
Paul  III.,   248,   249,   265,   271, 
279,  285 


Paul  v..  Pope,  34 
Pavia,  240,  247,  250 
Certosa,  102,  136-147 
churches  of,  1 58-161 
Duomo,  157 
history   of,    24,    26,    43,    69, 

74,  148-154,  237-239 
rivals    Milan,     59,     64,    65, 

66  note 
S.    Michele    Maggiore,    152, 

154-157,  172,  173 
Stilicho  at,  23 
University     of,     146,     154, 

157 

Pax  Romana,  the,  17 

Pellegrino,  Galeazzo,  145 

Pennine  Alps,  the,  passes  of,  6 
16,  17  note 

Perugia,  26,  107 

Perugino,  Pietro,  127,  277 
his  work  in  Cremona,  231 
his  work  in  Pavia,  142 

Pesaro,  27 

Peschiera   Maraglio,    24,    196, 
203 

Pesellino,  Francesco,  127,  179 

Petrarch,  114,  300,  301 
in  Mantua,  209,  214 
in  Pavia,  157 

Piacenza,  67,  68,  149,  222,  224, 
237,  238,  263,  283 
Abbess  Giovanna  da,  279 
buildings  of,  248-253 
history  of,  6,  10-13,  26,  27, 

71,  243-249,  270,  271 
S.  Roch  at,  253-258 

Piccinino,  105 

Pico,  297 

Piedmont  and  Liguria,  5  note 

Piedmont,  province  of,  4,  5 

Piermarini,  his  work  in  Milan, 

77 
Piombo,  Sebastian  del,  278 
Pisa,  9 

Council  of,  128 
Pisanello  of  Verona,  180 

his  work  in  Milan,  117,  120, 
121 
Pisogne,  197 
Pius  II.,  Pope,  220 
Pius  IV.,  Pope,  42,  102 
Placentia.     See  Piacenza 
Platina,  228 


3i8 


THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 


Pliny  on  Como,  i8,  40,  41,  42, 

45-49,  51 

on  Pavia,  148 

quoted,  5,  196,  197,  237 
Po,  the  river,  3,  4,  20,  243,  244 
Pola,  Bishop  of,  193 
Poland,  King  of,  253 
Poliziano,  Angelo,  215 
Pollentia,  battle  of,  23 
PoUi,  Bartolommeo  dei,  145 
Polybius,  quoted,  7,  9,  13 
Pompey,  16,  283 
Ponte  di  Cassano,  67 
Pontenure,  264 
Pontida,  65 
Pontormo,  179 
Pontremoli,  68,  232,  281 
Porato,  Giacomo,  226 
Porcia,  Conte  Antonio,  125 
Pordenone,  228,  265 

Castel  Porcia,  125 

his  work  in  Piacenza,  252 
Porlezza,  39 
Porta,  Girolamo  della,  104 

Paolo,  56 
Portinari,  Pigallo  dei,  97 
Porto  Mantovano,  205 

Tresa,  37 
Pozzo  Bianco,  176 
Pozzolengo,  204,  205 
Predis,  Ambrogio  de,  115,  122, 

181 
Previtale,  176 

Punic  War,   Second,   12,   245, 
288 

QuATTRO  Castella,  the,  299 
Querela,  182 
Quirino,  Filippo,  300 

Radagaisus  invades  Italy,  23 
Radetzky,  78,  187 
Ramperto,  Bishop,  190 
Rangoni,      Ugo,     Bishop      of 

Reggio,  285 
Raphael,  236,  271, 

his  Sistine  Madonna,  253 
his  work  in  Bergamo,  1 76 
his  work  in  Milan,  115,  120, 
126 
Ravenna,  103 
as  a  capital,  19,  23,  24,  25, 
27.59 


Ravenna,  battle  of,   153,  186, 
187,  247 
Stilicho  at,  23 
S.  Vitale,  92,  94 
Recared  of  Spain,  162 
Reformation,  the,  36 
Reggio,  238,  247,  263,  270 
history  of,  283,  284 
buildings    and    pictures    of, 
284-287 
Regulus,    L.    Atilius,    defeats 

Gaul,  9 
Rembrandt,  127,  182 
Repubblica  Cispadana,  285 
Rhaetian    Alps,    the,    15,     16, 

1 7  note 
Rheims,  136 
Rienzi,  186 
Rimini,  244,  262,  293 

held   by    Rome,    8,    10,   13, 

27 
Senones  in,  6 
S.  Roch  at,  254 
Rinaldus,  Archbishop,  95 
Ripari,  230 
Riva,  202 
Rivergaro,  258 
Rivoli,  battle  of,  202,  203 
Robert  of  Anjou,  68 
Roberti,  Ercole,  230,  293 
his    work     in    Milan,     119, 
120 
Rocca  di  Frezzo,  174 
Rodari  brothers,  the,  50 
Romagna,  province  of,  4,  5,  27, 

76,  262 
Romagnosi,  250 
Roman    Empire,    apogee    of, 
17-19 
decline  and  fall  of,  17,  19-28 
partition  of,  21 
Romanino,    his   work  in   Ber- 
gamo, 169,  181,  201 
his    work    at    Brescia,    188, 

190-194 
his  work  in  Cremona,  227 
his  work  in  Milan,  123,  124 
school  of,  227,  236,  241 
Romano,  Ezzelino  da,  67,  167 
Gian  Cristoforo,  146 
Giulio,  his  work  in  Mantua, 
211,  212,  213,  216,  218 
-school  of,  229 


INDEX 


319 


Romans,  the,  cross  the  Alps, 
15,  16 

invade  and  settle   Cisalpine 
Gaul,  7-10,  13,  14 
Romanus,  Pliny's  letter  to,  40 
Rome,  compared  with  Milan,  81 

sacks  of,  5,  7,  23-25 

Vatican,  115 
Romeo  at  Mantua,  206,  207 
Romulus  Augustulus,  24 
Roncaglia,  240 
Rondinelli,  125 
Rossena,  297,  300 
Rossi,  the,  68  note,  270 
Rovegnano,  128,  135 
Rubens,  252 
Rusca,  Roberto,  135 

Salinator,  M.  Livius,  11 
Sallust  on  the  Gauls,  6 
Salo,  200,  201 

S.  Ambrose,  Father  of  Milan, 
19,  59,  82-89,  102,  103 

quoted,  247,  269,  284,  289 

relics  of,  90,  91 
Sammachini  of  Bologna,  228 
Samnites,  the,  7 
Sandro,  Amico  di,  179 
Sangallo  in  Milan,  92 
Sansovino,  Jacopo,  189,  200 
Santi,  Giovanni,  126 
Sanuto,  quoted,  281 
San  Vitale,  the,  270 
S.  Apollonio,  190 
Saracens  in  Sardinia,  159 
Saramita,  Andrea,  131,  134 
Sardinia,  9 

Saronno,  36,  52,  56,  57 
Sasso  di  Ferro,  35 
Satyrus,  84,  85,  88 
S.  Augustine,  death  of,  24 

in  Milan,  83,  86 

shrine  of,  158-160 
S.  Austin  in  Milan,  87 
Savona,  202 
Savonarola,  108 
Saxe-Meiningen,  Duke  of,  46 
S.  Barnabas,  251 
S.  Bartholomew,  102 
S.  Benedict,  129,  136,  259 
S.  Bernard,  185,  266 

founder  of  Chiaravalle,  128- 
135 


S.  Biagio,  200 
S.  Bruno,  136 
Scala,  Alberto  della,  270 
Scaligers,  the,  at  war  with  the 
Visconti,  69 
castles  of,  186,  200,  202,  203 
Scamozzi,  171,  172 
Scandiano,  288 
S.  Candida,  89 
S.  Carlo  Borromeo,  34,  42,  75, 

113,  114 

tomb  of,  103 
S.  Caterina  del  Sasso,  31,  35 
Scipio  Africanus,  10 

Cornelius,  9,  58 

Publius,  10,  244,  245 
Scotti,  Alberto,  247 
Scotti,  the,  68  note 
S.  Columban,  259-261 
Scolza,  174 
S.  Donnino,  266 
Secchi,  Father,  90,  91 
Selvapiana,  301 
Sempronius,  Tiberius,  245,  246 
Senigaglia,  6 
Senones,  the,  6,  7 
Sentinum,  battle  of,  7 
Serafini,  Serafino  de',  291,  294 
Serbelloni,  Cecilia,  42 
Seregna,  219 
Seregno,  Vincenzo,  his  work  in 

Milan,  113,  114 
Seriate,  183,  184 
Sesia,  the,  32 
S.    Eustorgius,   Archbishop   of 

Milan,  95 
Severo,  Alberto,  226 
Severus,  a  butcher,  87 
S.  Filastro,  190 
Sforza,  the,  their  rule  in  Milan, 

113, 

Bianca  Maria,  107,  115 

Francesco,  247,  271 
career  of,  104-106,  232 
employs  II  Medeghino,  42- 

44 
his  rule  in  Milan,  71 
portrait  of,  231, 
Galeazzo  Maria,  72,  108,  140 

at  Pavia,  157,  158 
Gian  Galeazzo,  72, 
Ludovico  il  Moro,   97,    104, 
107 


320 


THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 


Sforza,   Ludovico  il  Moro,  at 

Pavia,  157 
his  rule  in  Milan,  72-74 
invites   Charles   viii.    into 

Italy,  280 
Sforzino,  276 
Sforzani,  Cherubino,  286 
S.  Gall,  260 

S.  Gervasius,  86,  89,  91 
S.  Gimignano,  290,  291 
S.  Giovanni,  47 
S.  Gotthard  Pass,  the,  16 
Sherborne,  264 
S.  Hugh,  136 
Sicily,  27 
Signorelli,  Luca,   his    work    in 

Bergamo,  180 
his  work  in  Milan,  126 
S.  Ilario,  283 
Simplon,  the,  16,  37 
Sinigaglia,  founded  by  Rome,  8 
Sion,  Cardinal,  73 
Sirmione,  197-200 
Siry,  Sixtus,  175 
Siviano,  196 

S.  Lazzaro,  263,  264,  288, 
S.  Marcellina,  84,  85,  89 
S.  Maria  delle  Grazie,  219,  220 
S.  Martin,  89 
S.  Martino,  205 
S.  Mary  Magdalen,  264 
S.  Maurizio,  288 
S.  Mona  of  Milan,  44 
Sodoma,  182,  286 
Solari,  Andrea,  144,  146 
Cristoforo,  50 

his  work  in  Milan,  102,  123 
his  work  at  Pavia,  144 
Solferino,    battlefield    of,    194, 

195.  203 
Spani,  Bartolommeo,  285 
S.  Peter,  patrimony  of,  27 
S.  Peter  Martyr,  95,  107  note, 

135 
S.  Pietro  all'  Orto,  131,  134 
Splugen  Pass,  the,  16,  39 
Spoleto,  26,  298 
S.  Polo,  297,  299 
S.  Protasius,  86,  89,  90 
Squarcione  of  Padua,  school  of, 

118, 119, 121 
S.  Rocco  al  Porto,  253 
S.  Roch,  life  of,  253-258 


S.  Satiro,  88 

S.  Siro,  157 

Stilicho,  21,  23,  40 

Strabo,  Pompeius,  quoted,  14, 

15,  237,  262,  263 
Stradivarius,  233 
Street,  Mr.,  quoted,  49,  142 
Stresa,  31-33 

Strozzi,  Pietro,  tomb  of,  2U 
Suetonius,  289 
Sulla,  266 
Suvorov,  76 

Tacitus,  quoted,  148,  247 

Taro,  the,  281 

Tarquinius  Priscus,  5 

Tasso,  114,  209 

Tavernola,  197 

Teietto,  216 

Telamo,  battle  of,  9 

Templar,  the  Knights,  251 

Tennyson,  Lord,  quoted,  199 

Terzi,  Ottobuono,  271 

Theodolinda,  Queen,  121,  162- 
167,  194,  260 

Theodoric,     Emperor,    invades 
Italy,  19,  24-27,  265,  269 
at  Monza,  162,  165 
rebuilds  Pavia,  149 

Theodosius,  Emperor,  59,  94 
absolved  by  S.  Ambrose,  86, 
88,  103 

Thessalonica,  86 

Thrasmund,  King,  159 

Tibaldi,  Pellegrino,  his  work  in 
Milan,  113,  114 

Ticino,  the,  10,  32 

Ticinum.     See  Pavia 

Tiepolo,  198,  277 

his  work  in  Bergamo,  175, 178 

Tintoretto,  his  work  in  Brescia, 
194 
his  work  in  Milan,  125 

Titian,    his   work   in    Brescia, 
192-194 
his  work  in  Mantua,  213 
his  work  at  Mddole,  205 
his  work  in  Milan,  125 
on  Correggio,  271,  274 

Titus  Manlius,  tradition  of,  7 

Toce  river,  the,  32 

Toledo,  220 

Tommasso  da  Modena,  294 


INDEX 


321 


Tommaso  of  Savoy,  Prince,  153 

Torbido,  201,  202 

Torbole,  202 

Tomo,  41,  49 

Torre,  Martino  deila,  67,  167 

Torri,  202 

Torriani,  the,  68,  167 

Torriggia,  49 

Tortona,  64,  238,  240 

Toscolano,  201 

Totila,  25,  247 

Tours,  89 

Transpadana,  13,  14 

Trasimenus,  battle  of,  1 1 

Trebbia,  battle  of  the,  11,  245, 

246 
Tremezzo,  46 
Tremosine,  201 
Trent,  25,  202 
Tresa,  the,  32 
Trescore,  184 

Tresseno,  Podest4  of  Milan,  98 
Treviso,  252 
Trezzo,  139 
Trieste,  14 

Trivulzi,  tombs  of  the,  104 
Trivulzio,  Antonio,  104 

Gian  Giacomo,  104 

Prince,  118 
Trotti,  Lorenzo,  226 
Tura,  Cosimo,  177 

his  work  in  Milan,  119,  120 

his  work  in  Modena,  293,  294 
Turin,  204,  302 

history  of,  245 
Turner,  J.  M.  W.,  278 
Tybalt,  206 
Tyrol,  the,  77 

Uraias  the  Goth,  59,  65,  81,  87 
Urbino,  Bramante  of,  121 

Duchess     of,     in     Mantua, 
213-215 

Duke  Federigo  of,  126 
Usualdo,  300 
Utrecht,  Peace  of,  76 

Val  Benedetto,  46 
Valentinian,  Emperor,  86,  189 

at  Milan,  19,  59 
Val  Introgno,  35 
Valtellina,  42,  43 
Vandals,  the,  invade  Italy,  24 

21 


Van  Dyck,  277,  296 

his  work  in  Milan,  127 
Varese,  35,  52,  53,  139 
Vasari,  55 

on  da  Vinci,  108-112 

on  Mantua,  218 

on  Perugino,  142 

on  Sodoma,  182 
Velasquez,     his     portrait     of 

Francis  d'  Este,  296 
Velleia,  276 
Venegono,  56 
Venetia,  province  of,  4,  5 

invasions  of,  23-27,  77 

its  alliance  with  Rome,  8,  10, 

13 
Venetian  school   of    painting, 

296 
Venice   acquires    Brescia   and 
Bergamo,  186,  187 

at  war  with  Milan,  70,  71 

Barbarossa  in,  66 

CoUeone  statue,  174 

proceeds  against  Charles  vin., 
280-282 

S.  Lazzaro,  264 

S.  Maria  Nuova,  125 
Venice  and  Venetia,  5  note,  87 

note 
Venturi,  quoted,  286  note 
Vercelli,  10,  68,  245,  301 
Verona,  59,  184,  206 

Alaric  at,  23 

Attila  at,  24 

Odoacer  at,  25 

rival  of  Pavia,  148 

Scaligers'  rule  in,    68  note, 
69 

S.  Peter  Martyr,  95 

taken  by  the  Lombards,  26 
Verone,  Giacomo  del,  69 
Veronese,  Paolo,  194 

school  of  painting,  118,  125, 
180,  296 
Verrocchio,  Andrea,  127,  174 
Versailles,  216 
Vespasian,  188 
Viani,  Antonio,  209,  210 
Vicenza,  69 

Attila  at,  24 

taken  by  the  Lombards,  26 
Victor  Emmanuel,  204,  284 

enters  Milan,  79 


322 


THE  CITIES  OF  LOMBARDY 


Victoria,  Queen,  32,  161 
Vida,     Monsignore    Girolamo, 

231 
Vienna,  Congress  of,  77,  271 
Vignola,  251 
Villa  Arconati,  46 
Villa  d'  Este,  49 
Villafranca,  79 
Villa  Giulia,  44 
Villani,  quoted,  66 
Villa  Pliniana,  47 
Serbelloni,  40,  41 
Taverna,  49 
Vincent,  254 

Vinci,  Leonardo  da,  36,  213 
his  Cenacolo,  1 09-1 13 
his  Mona  Lisa,  295 
influence  of,  56,  181,  182 
in  Milan,  73,  92, 107-113, 115 
Virgil,  45,  114, 

at  Mantua,  18,  206 
quoted,  217,  222 
Visconti,  the,  34,  45,  72,  186 
at  Piacenza,  247 
their  rule  in  Milan,  67-70, 
103,  105 
Archbishop     Giovanni,     96, 

102 
Archbishop  Ottone,  130,  135 
Astorre,  43 
Azzone,  45,  68 
Bernab6,  69,  107,  138,  271, 

300 
Bianca  Maria,  231,  232 
Duchess  Litta,  125 
Filippo  Maria,   70,    71,  103, 

105,  140,  145,  271 
Galeazzo,    68,    69,    72,    130, 
138,  225 


Visconti,  Gaspare,  97 
Giovanni,  68,  138 
Giovanni  Galeazzo,  106,  107, 
159 
builds  the  Duomo,  98 
his    affection    for    Pavia, 

138-141,  148,  153,  157 
his  rule  in  Milan,  69 
Giovanni  Maria,  70,  95 
Luchino,  68,  271 
Matteo,  68,  69,  138,  167 
Otto,  67 
Ottone,  102 
Stefano,  97 
Uberto,  67 
Visigothic   invasion   of    Italy, 

23 
Viti,    Timoteo,    his    work    in 

Milan,  120 
Vivarini,  the,  180 
Alvise,  124,  296 
Volpi,  Ambrogio,  145 
Volturnia,  223 

Voragine  on  S.  Roch,  253-258 
Vuolvinio,  90 

Wenceslaus,  Emperor,  145 
Westminster  Abbey,  140 
Whistler,  J.  M'N.,  122 
Wiligelmus,  290 
Wiirtemberg,  Duke  of,  215 

Ypres,  249 

Zaccagni,  Bernardino,  275 
Zacchetti,  Bernardino,  286  note 
Zama,  battle  of,  12 
Zenale,  his  work  in  Milan,  122 
Ziirich,  185 


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UNIVERSITY  OF   CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
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